


Special Adventures

by 1358456



Category: Pocket Monsters SPECIAL | Pokemon Adventures
Genre: Adventure & Romance, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-05
Updated: 2019-03-07
Packaged: 2019-03-27 06:51:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 23
Words: 105,232
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13875483
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/1358456/pseuds/1358456
Summary: An Ao3 re-upload of the story of the same name on FF.net, Special Adventures (June 2011 - December 2013).A story based on Pokémon Special the manga. As the Sinnoh and Unova Dex Holders meet their seniors and learn to work together and build intergenerational friendship, a new evil team plans to take over the world while another plans to destroy it...





	1. The Package

**Author's Note:**

> This story is set 1 year after the DPPt arc. However, due to the date in which the story plans were created (around 2009-2010), information regarding everything after DPPt were not known at the time, such as when HGSS occurred in relation to DPPt, and the existence of Generation V and onwards.
> 
> The time between some arcs have been compressed to keep the age gap manageable. Since the story's plot plans were made before Platinum's name was commonly known, there will be some inaccuracies in the "canon" events.
> 
> The first chapter was first uploaded on June 3, 2011

Chapter 1: The Package

New Bark Town, Johto…

Gold took a deep breath and stared at the pool table in front of him. He needed full focus, as his next shot would determine whether he broke his personal record or not. He calculated his options after moving around the table to examine different angles. Having found the perfect angle, he took aim and holding his breath, he prepared to take the shot…

Suddenly, he heard something smash with a loud thud, causing him to jump in surprise, accidently hitting the cue ball in the process. Gold watched in horror as his shot completely missed and fell pointlessly into the hole in the corner. Clenching his teeth, he adjusted his cap, gripped the billiard cue tight and jumped through the open windows to see what that smashing sound was about.

Outside, he saw his fence smashed, and someone was lying among the mess with a giant box on top of him. Upon closer inspection, he realized that the person was the youngster Joey.

“Hey, what are you doing?!” Gold yelled, running over to him.

“Oh, hi Gold…” the youngster said as he moved the box off of him. He quickly got up and after a brief scan around him, gave Gold an apologetic look. “I’m sorry about the fence; it was an accident.”

Gold stuck his billiard cue in the ground, grabbed Joey by the collar of his shirt and began to shake him furiously. “Why you! Do you realize what you’ve done?!”

“I’m sorry for the fence! It… it was a nice fence!” ‘ _And probably expensive too…_ ’

“I was about to beat my own record, damn it!” Gold yelled. “I had the shot lined perfectly, but you made me blow it!”

“Huh? … Oh, in pool? Uh… I’m sorry?”

Joey watched in horror as Gold pulled his cue out from the ground with a deadly glare. That cue was indestructible, and if it was to be used as a weapon…

“H – Honestly, it was an accident! I was just helping someone move in, and the box was just a little too heavy for me! It made me lose balance… blame the owner of the box, not me!”

Gold’s deadly glare disappeared, although he kept his grip on Joey’s collar. “You’re right; it’s not your fault that you’re frail. So where is he? He’s going to have to pay for that perfect shot!”

At that time, Gold’s Pokégear started to ring. Upon checking, he recognized the caller’s number as Crystal’s.

“Hey, Super Serious Gal! What’s up?” As he listened, his expression and tone changed to ‘complaining’ (which he knew Crystal didn’t like). “Oh, come on, Super Serious Gal! All the way to Olivine? … … Whoa, whoa, okay! Take it easy! Fine, I’ll be there when I get there. … … All right, all right! If it’s such an _emergency_!” Gold hung up and shook his head. He turned to glare at Joey. “You’re paying for that perfect shot when I return! … And the fence, too.”

Once Gold left on his Mantine, Joey checked the damage of the fence. “What kind of fence smashes this easily?” he grumbled.

Upon closer inspection, he realized that the fence had already been broken and was barely standing in place before he crashed into it. He sighed and shook his head. It wasn’t his fault that the fence smashed, but Gold probably wouldn’t believe him…

…

Meanwhile, Berlitz Mansion, Sandgem Town, Sinnoh…

…

Sebastian, carrying a plate full of refreshments, approached the door of the room where the Lady and her father were. Before he could even open the door, he heard something shocking inside.

“WHAT?!” he yelled as he barged into the room.

Lady Platinum Berlitz and Sir Berlitz both looked up at the old butler, confused for a brief moment. The heiress took another sip of tea and placed the cup on the table.

“I said, grandpa, that I shall be leaving on a journey to Kanto in a few minutes,” she said calmly.

“All by yourself, my Lady? Without Sir Diamond or Sir Pearl?” asked the butler.

“Yes. They are probably busy and I do not wish to be a bother to them again.” Platinum sighed. “I… have already tried to contact them, but they were not home.”

“You’re leaving on another perilous journey…” the butler muttered sadly. “Why, may I ask?”

The heiress smiled at the old butler’s reaction. “Professor Rowan has granted me the task of collecting data of Pokémon in other regions to assist in his ongoing research. The professor suggested that I start with Kanto, and I shall.” She looked at her Pokétch and realized that it was time for her to go. She grabbed her bag and got ready to leave.

“Well, have fun and be careful,” said Sir Berlitz as he watched his daughter prepare to leave.

Platinum bowed to her father good-bye and headed outside. The old butler frantically tried to stall her for a while longer, but to no avail. After taking a deep breath of fresh air, the heiress stepped outside her mansion’s boundaries. Since she was no longer in a cold environment, she had removed her winter attire.

After sending out her Rapidash, she gently jumped on and headed towards Canalave City, where she would take the ferry to Vermillion City. Although she was glad to get out of the mansion and travel again, she couldn’t help but feel a little lonely, as she would be completely alone this time…

However, there was one thing she did look forward to. She had suspected that there was some hidden motive behind Professor Rowan’s suggestion for her to collect data on Pokémon in other regions. She recalled hearing about someone else successfully gathering data on almost every Pokémon in the other regions, so it was rather pointless for her to do it again. So she figured that the real reason behind the professor’s suggestion was hidden, and she hoped that upon arriving at Kanto, she would find out what.

Also, she recalled the Canalave Gym Leader Byron saying something about someone gathering all 8 Gym Badges within 80 days, and Platinum hoped that she would meet him while traveling through Kanto. Although Byron didn’t specify what region (or anything about the person), the heiress knew that she would eventually gain information and be able to meet the person.

Upon arriving at the Canalave harbor next day (spent a night in Jubilife hotel), she purchased her ticket and searched for the ship that would take her to Vermillion City.

“SS Anne…” she muttered, looking at her ticket.

Before long, she found the ship she was looking for. It was a luxurious ship, and eager to explore it, she quickly boarded. Upon finding her cabin and ensuring that it was in good condition, she began to explore the ship.

…

Two days later…

…

The ship arrived in Vermillion City harbor and the heiress eagerly got off the ship and took a long look around. The environment of Kanto was certainly different than Sinnoh. The first thing she noticed was that the sun was a little too bright.

“Whew… it is much hotter here than Sinnoh.” She loosened her scarf a little, and wondered whether she should have brought a parasol or something. She was going to send out her Rapidash, but decided to wait until she knew where she was going. From her bag, she pulled out a map book of Kanto that was provided to her by Professor Rowan to aid her in her travels. “There is a research center in Pallet Town. I should go there first…” she muttered. “According to this map, the shortest path would be to take the Diglett’s Cave… I do wonder where this cave is…”

She flipped to the page with details on Vermillion City and examined the layout. Looking at the map carefully, she began to walk towards what she believed was east. She looked up to match the map with her surroundings just in time to see that she bumped into someone. Surprised, she quickly looked at the person she walked into. It was a girl several years older than her, and she seemed equally surprised.

“I – I am terribly sorry,” the heiress said quickly.

The older girl simply looked at her. She seemed to examine her from head to toe, somewhat making her feel a little nervous. Upon meeting her gaze, the older girl smiled.

“It’s okay,” she said warmly.

“Um… Do you know where the Diglett’s Cave is?” the heiress asked politely. “I seem to be lost…”

“The Diglett’s Cave? Where do you plan to go? Viridian City?”

“Actually, I am going to Pallet Town. If there is another shortcut, I would highly appreciate it if you would tell me.”

The older girl stared at her. “Pallet Town? Why? Are you going to meet Professor Oak?”

Platinum nodded. She didn’t fully trust the older girl so she remained on guard.

“Are you Platinum Berlitz?”

“How do you know my name?” Platinum asked, steadily reaching for her Empoleon’s Pokéball (should anything go wrong).

“Your father apparently didn’t want to take any risks with you, so he urged Professor Rowan to urge Professor Oak to send me and… wherever he is… to find you and escort you safely to Pallet Town.”

The heiress didn’t lower her guard. “Prove it, please.”

The older girl reached into her bag and began looking for something.

“Yo, Super Serious Gal, did you find the one we’re looking for?” came someone’s voice from behind.

The heiress turned around and saw an older boy on a skateboard and carrying what appeared to be a billiard cue. Platinum firmly grasped her Empoleon’s Pokéball and prepared herself. The older girl sighed in exasperation.

“Yes, I found her. No thanks to you!” The older girl pulled out a Pokégear and called someone. “Hello? Professor Oak? The _package_ is here. I found the girl you were waiting for.” With a smile, she looked at Platinum and gave her the Pokégear. “He wants to talk to you.”

“Hello?” the heiress said to the Pokégear’s receiver.

“Ah, you must be Platinum Berlitz,” came the professor’s familiar voice. “Welcome to Kanto.”

Platinum had listened to the professor’s radio talk shows a few times, and with her father, listened to discussions between the Kanto professor and Professor Rowan. As a result, despite the fact that she had never seen him in person, the heiress recognized the professor’s voice. She smiled and dropped her guard.

“Hello, Professor Oak. It is an honor to finally speak with you.”

“It’s nice to hear from you too. Now, if you’re able, then why not come visit my lab? I’d like to meet you in person.”

“Of course, professor. I shall head to Pallet Town at once.”

“Good. The two that I’ve sent will accompany you. They are your seniors, Platinum. Johto Dex Holders.”

“They are?” the heiress exclaimed in shock. She glanced at her seniors (who were arguing with each other) with newfound respect.

“Yes. Talk to them. Get to know them. I’m sure it’ll be a great new experience for you.”

“I understand professor. Thank you very much.”

Platinum returned the Pokégear to the older girl and bowed. Her two seniors stared at her in confusion.

“What’s she doing?” said the older boy with the skateboard.

“I have heard from Professor Oak that you two are my seniors,” Platinum said politely. “It is an honor to finally meet you. I am awfully sorry that I doubted you.”

“Right, you’re a Dex Holder too,” said the older boy. “I forgot about that.”

Platinum smiled. “I need something to address you by. Name, codename, anything is fine, so may I please know them?”

The older boy grinned. “Well then, I’ll introduce myself. My name is Gold, from New Bark Town,” he said. He pointed at the girl beside him. “This Super Serious Gal is Crystal.”

Crystal smacked Gold in the back of the head. “First Ruby and Sapphire, and now Platinum…”

“Whoa, easy there, Super Serious Gal. You’re too violent!”

Crystal grumbled as she turned to face Platinum. “Anyways, my name is Crystal, or in short, Crys.”

The heiress smiled. “Understood. My name is Platinum Berlitz. I am an assistant to the authority on Pokémon evolution research, Professor Rowan, along with my father, and also a trainer of the Sinnoh region. And it is an honor to meet you, seniors Gold and Crystal.”

“Nice to meet you too,” Gold replied. “Anyways, let’s get going. Faster we get to Pallet Town the better. I have stuff to do back home, you know.”

…

Meanwhile, Viridian City Gym…

…

“No.”

“Oh come on! It’ll be fun!”

“… No… Why are you even here? Shouldn’t you be with your long-lost parents, at _your_ house, not in my Gym?”

“Well, I felt bored, so I just thought that you and I could do something fun.”

“Just because you’re bored, it doesn’t mean I am. If you didn’t notice, I’m busy at the moment. Besides, if you’re bored, you could either train like Red, or just sleep like Yellow. DON’T bother others. Furthermore, what exactly makes you think that I’d have fun by going with you?”

“At least _I’ll_ be having fun.”

“And that’s supposed to motivate me?”

“Well, think of it this way. The longer you resist, less time you’ll have on… whatever you’re doing.”

“… You win… … Pesky girl…”

“All right then! Red’s birthday is tomorrow, so I say we go shopping! According to my sources, he’ll finish training in Mt. Silver later today, so he should be back tomorrow.”

“Don’t tell me _you’re_ planning the birthday party…”

“You bet! Red wanted me to do it!”

…

_One week earlier…_

_Blue carefully landed on the grass after jumping off of her Wigglytuff outside Red’s house. It was 3 am, so everyone was asleep. With an evil grin, she used Ditto to unlock the front door. But the door wasn’t fully unlocked yet. There was another locking mechanism that could only be opened from the inside._

_“Hmm… he learned…” Blue muttered. She sent her Ditto inside the house through a small gap in the door so it could open the door from the inside. “But he still has much to learn.”_

_Once the door was fully open, she crept inside, using the modified Silph Scope to see in the dark. She slowly crept to the living room and spotted a pile of invitation cards that were placed on the table; just what she was looking for. The cards were nothing special; a plain white card (or piece of paper, rather) with the guest’s name on it, with a short message from Red, inviting the guest to his birthday party. The party had been Yellow’s idea to begin with. Red just wanted to spend his birthday **training**. As a result, though he was inviting everyone, he really didn’t have a reason to make the invitations fancy or whatever._

_“Boys…” Blue muttered silently with a sigh, scanning through the boring invitation cards. Upon finding hers, she quickly removed it from the pile and hid it in her bag._

_Now that she did what she came to do, she quietly left the house and shut the door. After using Ditto to lock the door from the inside so it appeared as if she never came, she used Wigglytuff to fly away._

_…_

_Morning…_

_…_

_Unaware of what happened earlier, Red came downstairs in his house after getting ready for the day. As Blue expected, he picked up the pile of invitation cards, and without double-checking them, headed for the door to mail the cards to the various recipients. But before he reached the door, someone rang the doorbell. He opened the door to find Blue outside, with a big smile._

_“Hey, Blue… what’s up?” Red asked._

_“Well, I was just nearby and I was just wondering if you were doing anything…” Blue started with an innocent look. “… Hey, what are those?”_

_“These are just…” Red started when Blue snatched the pile of cards from him. “… Invitation cards…”_

_“Oh, for your birthday? Let me see…” Blue smiled and she began scanning through the pile. “Professor Oak, Green, Gold, Yellow, Brock, Misty… …” She frowned when she scanned through the entire pile but didn’t find hers. She scanned through the pile again, but didn’t find her name again. “Hey… you’re… not inviting me?”_

_“Huh? I thought I did…” Red said. He took the pile from Blue and scanned through them himself. He was shocked to find out that Blue was NOT one of the recipients… “Uh…”_

_“You’re… not going to invite me to your birthday?” Blue asked with a hurt expression. “After all these years… I thought we were friends…”_

_Before Red could reply, Blue turned away, unable to suppress the oncoming tears._

_“I – I’m sorry, I must’ve lost the card or something… I made sure that I made one for you…”_

_“You’re lying …”_

_“I’m sorry, but I really did invite you… I just don’t know what happened…” Blue turned to face him with tears in her eyes. “I… err… … uh… … this is awkward… uh…” He rubbed the back of his neck, not knowing what to do._

_“At least tell me what you planned for the birthday…”_

_“Nothing much, really… It’s just dinner with lots of other people…”_

_“That’s it? … And you didn’t invite me to that? … … Would you mind if **I** planned your birthday party? Or do you not want me to do that either?”_

_“Well… uh… if it makes you feel better, then sure. You can plan the party.”_

_“Thanks. That makes me feel much better. So… I’ll see you in a few days, then…”_

_“Uh… yeah… See you then.”_

_Blue turned away from Red and sent out her Wigglytuff. She waved a good-bye to Red and hopped on, flying back home to the Sevii Islands. Once Pallet Town was out of range, she burst into laughter. She almost couldn’t do it, but in the end, she got exactly what she wanted… Even better, she got the perfect birthday gift for Red… But after the laughter, she sighed. She felt guilty for tricking one of her best friends again…_

_Meanwhile, Red mailed all of the invitation cards to various people all around and headed back home with a strange feeling. “Hmm… why do I get the feeling that I’ve been tricked?”_

…

Green looked at Blue with his eyes narrowed. There was no way that Red would willingly let her plan a party… Red had been a victim to several of her tricks, so Green figured that he got fooled again. How odd. He thought she had stopped with the tricks. She hadn’t tricked anyone in over a year…

“I wonder why I doubt you…” he said with a sigh.

Green rose to his feet and checked that he had Machamp’s Pokéball. Machamp was mandatory if he went shopping with Blue and didn’t want sore arms.

…

Meanwhile, unknown location…

…

A man stopped walking a hundred meters away from a certain tall building. He pulled out a piece of paper and checked the address and directions written on it. Satisfied that he was going the right direction, he checked around himself to make sure that wasn’t being followed. Satisfied again, he walked towards the tall building.

However, unbeknownst to him, there was a person sitting on a Starmie, floating high above his head, watching his every move…

* * *

**For those who have read Special Events, expect some familiar events some time later.**

* * *

What Could Have Been (1 of 2):

Platinum slowly headed towards Canalave City on her Rapidash. She looked around the empty streets of Jubilife City, wondering where everyone was. She then looked at her bag and wondered about the package she was given. Professor Rowan had given her the package and said that it was very important, and that Professor Oak of Kanto was sending two people to make sure nothing happens to it.

Suddenly, her Rapidash was hit by a Sludge Bomb, knocking it down to the ground and poisoning it. Platinum quickly checked on her Pokémon, wondering what happened. She could see another Sludge Bomb aimed towards her and quickly sent her Empoleon to block the attack. The Empoleon was immune to Poison types and the heiress used the time to look at where the attackers were. To her surprise, the empty streets of Jubilife City were filled with rough looking people and their Pokémon, all looking at her.

Realizing that she couldn’t possibly fight so many people, Platinum returned Rapidash to its Pokéball and began to run away. But before she got far, she tripped over something along with her Empoleon, and soon realized that it was Grass Knot. The heiress quickly returned her Empoleon to its Pokéball and tried to run again. Her knee hurt from the fall, but she kept running anyways.

She turned a corner and instantly felt someone’s hand on her throat. Platinum realized that she ran into the boss of the attacking group, since this guy had a distinct looking white mask. The boss lifted the heiress by her throat and pushed her against a wall of a building. With the other hand, he took her bag.

Platinum tried to loosen the grip the boss had over her throat, but to no avail. Suddenly, a Pokéball flying at high speeds hit the wall right beside her head and bounced into the face of the boss, with enough power to shatter the plastic mask. From the Pokéball, a Typhlosion popped out and forcefully pushed the boss away from Platinum. The heiress took the time to quickly snatch her bag back and retreated behind the Typhlosion.

“Explotaro, Blast Burn!” came a voice from above…

…

(2 of 2)

…

Platinum flipped to the page with details on Vermillion City and examined the layout. Looking at the map carefully, she began to walk towards what she believed was east. She looked up to match the map with her surroundings just in time to see that she bumped into someone. Surprised, she quickly looked at the person she walked into. It was a girl several years older than her, and she seemed equally surprised. The older girl was wearing a white hat with a blue top and a red skirt.

“I – I am terribly sorry,” the heiress said quickly.

The older girl simply looked at her, examining her from head to toe. The heiress felt a little nervous, and maybe she was imagining, but the older girl seemed to have an envious look on her face. Upon meeting her gaze, the older girl smiled.

“It’s okay.”

“Um… Do you know where the Diglett’s Cave is?” the heiress asked politely. “I seem to be lost…”

“The Diglett’s Cave? Where do you plan to go? Viridian City?”

“Actually, I am going to Pallet Town. If there is another shortcut, I would highly appreciate it if you would tell me.”

The older girl stared at her. “Pallet Town? Okay, well…” She pointed to the right. “The Diglett’s Cave is over there, but if you want to get to Pallet Town, maybe I can give you a lift.”

She tossed a Pokéball into the air and a Wigglytuff came out from it. The Wigglytuff inflated itself and the older girl hopped on. Platinum stared at her, wondering whether she could trust her…


	2. Reveille

Chapter 2: Reveille

Diglett’s Cave…

Crystal and Platinum followed Gold as he walked deeper into the cave. The goggled boy didn’t really like the fact that he was left alone with two girls. Normally, he would like the idea, but when one of the girls was Crystal… things changed. Also, Platinum kept asking questions. As a result, Gold chose to walk ahead so that he may avoid overly long conversations. He could hear the two girls talking constantly.

Platinum was busy asking Crystal of her past and her accomplishments. The Johto Dex Holder did her best to answer.

“So you have completed the Pokédex?” the heiress asked in surprise.

“Yes. Capturing just about every Pokémon isn’t an easy job, but I managed.”

Platinum clasped her hands together. “May I ask you to teach me?”

Crystal looked at her junior. “You… want me to teach you how to catch Pokémon?”

“I would highly appreciate it if you will. During my travels with my two friends, I… have failed in most of my attempts to capture a Pokémon,” Platinum said. She sounded rather embarrassed.

Crystal smiled. “Sure, I guess. I think I can teach you whenever I have time.”

“Thank you so much, senior!”

Gold listened as Crystal proceeded to explain what she went through. However, he noticed that the story wasn’t really to his liking when she got to the part that involved other Dex Holders.

“Hey, Super Serious Gal, you left out the best part!” he protested.

“Huh? What are you talking about?”

“You forgot about my heroism! As I recall, it was this genius (pointing to himself) who bravely and single-handedly stopped Lugia from blasting us to bits with Aeroblast!”

“Oh, please!” Crystal yelled. “Lugia smacked you out of the air so fast! It was a fluke that your cue ended up jamming Lugia’s mouth!”

Gold grumbled while Crystal continued with the story. But the goggled boy interrupted once more.

“Hey, you didn’t mention my heroic sacrifice! I chased Pryce deep into the Voids of Time all by myself!”

“Oh… well, I forgot about that. Besides, if it wasn’t for everyone else, you wouldn’t have succeeded! You’re just trying to take all the glory.”

“Super Serious Gal, I’m going to tell the next stories,” Gold said. “Hey you, Sinnoh girl, get over here.”

Platinum quickly ran towards Gold, who began to explain what he went through. To avoid repetition, he skipped the whole Mask of Ice incident and went straight to the Hoenn Battle Tower incident. But this time, Crystal didn’t like the story.

“Hey! You left me out completely!” she yelled. “If I recall, I learned the ultimate move faster than you!”

Gold made no comments and simply continued with the story. By the time he got to the part with the fake Kyogre, Crystal interrupted again.

“You got knocked down by that thing too!” she yelled. “Besides, seeing how I went to fight that thing first, I lasted longer than you!”

“Super Serious Gal, do you not see me telling a story? Stop interrupting,” Gold said in a serious tone. “Anyways, because of me, that fake Kyogre was distracted, and it gave time for the Hoenn guys to learn the ultimate moves. And together, we all blasted that thing to bits.”

Gold moved on to the next story, and after he finished the story involving Team Rocket and Arceus, Crystal started to laugh.

“So, you left out the fact that Arceus was kicking your butt before Silver and I arrived? You know, from what I saw, you were being _toyed_ with.”

Gold turned to face Crystal. “Well, you should be grateful that I left out the part where you got destroyed by that fat Rocket General until Silver arrived. Maybe you should spend some time training instead of just kicking Pokéballs.”

Platinum watched as her two seniors got involved in another argument. She made a mental note to ask someone else for more… accurate information on the past events.

On the way out of the Diglett’s Cave, Platinum ran ahead of her seniors to see the different environment. She had seen the harbor and ocean of Kanto (Vermillion City) and now the caves, and she wanted to see the grasslands. Then it happened…

Gold, who wasn’t paying attention to his surroundings, walked out of the cave and straight past Platinum. He was trying to remember where exactly Pallet Town was relative to his position. And as he walked past Platinum, his right hand accidentally hit the heiress’s bottom.

From the slight impact and the girl’s gasp, Gold snapped out of his thoughts, and realizing what happened, quickly withdrew his hand. He couldn’t help but snicker as he marveled at the coincidence of the positioning of his hand at that time.

Platinum looked horrified. She instantly remembered what Sebastian taught her a couple of years ago.

‘ _Protocol dictates that I kick the offender in his private parts between the legs and run while calling for help_ ,’ the heiress thought. ‘ _But… would that apply in this situation?_ ’

Crystal looked disgusted and infuriated. The last time she saw Gold do that, Silver was there to restrain him (by a well-placed punch to the face), but since no one else was here… The girl ran towards Gold and without warning, kicked him in the back of the head. The goggled boy toppled to the ground, but soon got back up, with his hands on the back of his head.

“Ow, what the hell, Super Serious Gal?!” he yelled.

“Shut up, you disgusting pervert!” Crystal yelled as she proceeded to kick him again.

“It was an accident! I was trying to remember what direction Pallet Town was, and I didn’t see her there!”

“Yeah right! What’s wrong with you?!” the girl screamed as she continued to kick Gold.

A few minutes later Crystal stopped with the kicks and Gold managed to get back up. The goggled boy grumbled that it was a lot better to fight Silver. At least he could hit back… He couldn’t hit Crystal for quite a few reasons… Also, Crystal’s kicks hurt a lot more than Silver’s punches.

“Damn, Super Serious Gal… you should enter some sort of a fighting tournament,” Gold grumbled. “If you practice hard enough, you could knock out people with one kick…”

“Now apologize to Platinum!” Crystal ordered.

“I told you it was an accident! If anything, she should apologize to me for standing there and causing the misunderstanding!”

“Why you!” Crystal yelled. She pretended to prepare to kick him between the legs, and as expected, Gold jumped back.

“Okay, okay! Sheesh! Do you have any idea how much that hurts?” Gold grumbled some more and turned to face Platinum. “I’m sorry that my hand accidentally hit you in the a-”

Crystal cleared her throat. Gold glared at her for a second before he rephrased his statement.

“I mean, I’m really sorry that I accidentally hit you in the _rear end_.”

“I… um…” the heiress stammered. She didn’t know what to say or what to do.

Gold sighed. “As a way of apologizing, how about I buy you dinner when we get to Viridian City?” To Platinum’s horror, he took her hands and winked at her (Crystal couldn’t see the wink as she was behind him). “Come with me and I’ll make you happier than you could possibly imagine.”

Seeing her junior’s horrified expression, Crystal kicked Gold in the side of the head. “You call that an apology?!” She grabbed the goggled boy by the ear and forced him to get back to his feet. She held on to his ear and made him face Platinum. “Platinum, kick him.”

The heiress jumped in surprise. She wondered what she should do for a second before deciding to follow her senior’s order. She clasped her hands together in front of her face and bowed slightly to Gold.

“I am terribly sorry senior,” she mumbled out. “But protocol dictates action…”

Platinum shut her eyes and kicked. She opened her eyes again when she heard Gold groaning in pain. Realizing that she just kicked her senior in his groin with the _tip of her boot_ , she hastily apologized and ran away. Crystal let go of Gold and quickly followed. The goggled boy dropped to the ground and tried all he could to ease the pain.

“Protocol? What is she? A machine?” he grumbled out. “Ohh… it’s a damn good thing Super Serious Gal didn’t kick me…” He sent out his Typhlosion and carefully climbed on top (more like lying on top face up so that the Typhlosion will carry him). “Don’t run. Go slowly and carefully,” he ordered. “Ohh… what exactly did I do to deserve this?” ‘ _I will get you for this, Crys!_ ’

Meanwhile, Crystal successfully calmed her junior (who looked as if she was going to cry any moment) and slowly headed back to where she left Gold writhing. The Johto Dex Holder explained that the goggled boy doesn’t mean anything, and that he always flirts.

“I think you kicked him a little too hard,” Crystal said. “But he does deserve it.”

By the time the girls caught up with Gold, he was halfway to Viridian City. Although the Typhlosion was going relatively slow, it was still faster than walking, so Crystal and Platinum had to run to catch up.

“About time,” Gold grumbled.

Platinum bowed to her senior again. “I am awfully sorry for all this, senior…”

Gold waved her off. “It’s nothing… It was just an accident…”

Crystal crossed her arms. “I hope you learned your lesson.”

Gold glared at her. “Don’t kick me again, Crys. Or I _will_ be forced to defend myself,” he said, gripping his billiard cue tight.

“So… how are you doing? That kick looked painful.” Crystal felt sorry and regretted her decision to tell Platinum to kick Gold. ‘ _I hope he doesn’t give her a degrading nickname…_ ’

“How the hell do you think I’m doing?!” Gold yelled. He winced at the pain coming from below and tried to calm down. “I could barely breathe a few minutes ago…” ‘ _Hehehe… if I fake being in super serious pain, then I could have my revenge! Take that, guilty conscience! … It still hurts though…_ ’ “Explotaro, keep going. I need to buy an ice pack ASAP.”

…

Next day…

…

Gold, Crystal, and Platinum arrived at Pallet Town. Gold had stopped pretending to be in extreme pain but still appeared to be upset. The heiress felt sorry for kicking her senior. She apologized again, but Gold told her to forget about the whole incident.

Crystal sighed in relief as she realized that the end of the task was near. Gold didn’t do anything last night (complaining about being in extreme pain), and as a result, she had to set up camp only for Gold to suggest at the very end to spend the night in a hotel. She couldn’t do anything to him since he appeared to have difficulty walking. The sooner her task with Gold ended the better.

Platinum followed her two seniors as they led her towards Professor Oak’s lab. The moment she saw the professor, the heiress bowed and excitedly ran up to him. Though she was feeling down from what happened with Gold, seeing the famous Professor Oak still excited her.

“Ah, so you’re Platinum?” the professor asked. “I heard quite a lot about you from Professor Rowan.”

“It is an honor to finally meet you, professor,” the heiress said politely. “The region of Kanto is so nice, and Pallet Town is just beautiful.”

“Enjoy it while you can. You can’t stay in Kanto forever, after all. Now, do you know why exactly you came to Kanto?”

“Um… Professor Rowan had granted me the task of collecting data on Pokémon outside of the Sinnoh region, and he suggested that I start with Kanto. But senior Crystal had already completed the Pokédex, therefore I suspect that there is another reason for Professor Rowan sending me here. I would highly appreciate it if you would tell me, professor.”

The professor smiled. “Professor Rowan had told me how smart you were. You already found out that the whole ‘collecting data’ was just an excuse. Very well. The actual reason for Professor Rowan sending you here was to allow you to meet your seniors and travel again. Your father would never have allowed such a thing, as it would have been too dangerous, in his view.”

Platinum nodded. “Yes… father hired professional bodyguards during my last travels. But I am capable of defending myself now.”

“I know. So, Platinum, now that you’re here, feel free to travel around Kanto. Take on Gym Leaders if you want, and take this chance to meet all the other Dex Holders. I heard how much you value experience, and I’m sure that this will be a great new experience for you.”

“Great. I’m done now,” Gold said from behind to no one in particular. He turned around to leave but Professor Oak stopped him.

“Where do you think you’re going, Gold?” the professor asked. “You still have a job to do.”

“Huh? I was told that I only have to ‘ensure the delivery of the package’ when Super Serious Gal dragged me here. Now that the package is here, I don’t have to stay.”

The professor smiled. “Gold, along with Crystal, you are to accompany Platinum in her journey around Kanto. Make sure nothing happens to her.”

“What? You mean… as a bodyguard?” Gold asked.

“Yes. She’s the only daughter of the prestigious Berlitz family, therefore can easily be targeted for kidnapping. Though she can defend herself, it’ll be a good experience for her to travel with her seniors, don’t you think?”

“First you use me as a delivery boy, and now a bodyguard?” Gold asked angrily. “Why can’t someone else do it? I’m very busy you know!”

“Trust me, Gold… I tried very hard to choose someone else… In order to make sure nothing bad happens, I have to send two Dex Holders. Of course I considered Red and Green to do it, but Green’s busy with research and Red’s… out of contact… again. Not to mention they tend to get carried away during battles… I don’t want to distract Blue when she’s with her parents, so the only options were you, Crystal and Emerald. There’s Yellow, but this is not her area of expertise.”

“So… why me?”

“Well, I would like one of my assistants to remain and do other tasks, and since you weren’t really doing anything important, I decided to send you and either Crystal or Emerald. If I were to send Emerald with you, then… I fear the results… so I had to send you and Crystal. And now that you’re here, I’m assigning you another task. It won’t be as bad as it sounds.”

Gold looked at Crystal. “What do you think, Super Serious Gal?”

The girl sighed. “Another task with you. How great could it _possibly_ be?”

“Gold, consider this. Right now, you’re the best man for the job,” said the professor, targeting the goggled boy’s ego.

“Please, senior Gold. I would highly appreciate it if you would accompany me,” Platinum added.

Gold grinned. “Well, since it’s apparently a mission that only I can do…” He put a hand on Platinum’s shoulder. “Let’s get going then,” he said. He turned and walked out of the lab. The heiress started to follow but Professor Oak stopped her.

“Ah wait,” said the professor. “Platinum, do you still have the map Professor Rowan gave you?”

The heiress reached into her bag and withdrew the map. She gave the map to the professor. Professor Oak flipped to the page on Pallet Town and just as he expected, spotted a section that bulged out slightly. He carefully tore out the bulging section and a memory storage device dropped out.

“One of the real reasons for you coming here was to deliver this,” he said, looking at Platinum. “For safety, Professor Rowan did not mail this or send an assistant, but rather covertly gave it to a Dex Holder.”

“Professor, what is that for?” Platinum asked.

“You’ll find out some day. I can’t tell you yet,” the professor replied.

Platinum glanced at Crystal. She didn’t appear confused or surprised at all. Perhaps she knew what the storage device was for. The heiress made a mental note to ask her about the storage device when the time was right.

…

Meanwhile, Blue arrived at Viridian City, with a big smile and a notepad filled with ideas for Red’s birthday party. It was supposed to be just a dinner, but Blue changed it to an all-day event. And she had it all planned out perfectly. She had re-sent invitation cards to all the recipients, due to the change of the time of the party.

She quickly went to the Viridian Forest and dragged Yellow to Green’s Gym, where all the items from yesterday’s shopping were stored. She then forced them to carry all the shopping bags and took them straight towards Red’s house so they could decorate. Since Yellow’s Butterfree wasn’t able to carry much weight, majority of the shopping bags ended up on Green’s Charizard.

“Pesky girl… can’t you do all this by yourself?” Green asked, upon arriving at Red’s house.

“It’ll take forever for me to do it all by myself, silly. I need help, and you’re going to help me.”

“… You’re not annoying like most people… you’re much worse in your own unique way…”

Although Yellow had similar thoughts, she didn’t really mind, because it was for Red, after all.

Blue pushed her and Green into Red’s house and gave them the sheet of paper with a layout of how she wanted the house to be decorated. There was a sentence written in big bold letters, saying: “ **FOLLOW MY INSTRUCTIONS, OR ELSE!** ”

Blue stepped outside Red’s house and looked at her notes. According to it, she was going to need more ‘volunteers’ to decorate the house. Silver was the only available ‘volunteer’ in close proximity, but she wasn’t going to bother him. And besides, she already told him to meet her in Pallet Town at noon, when all the decorations would be done.

“Oh… I just need a few more people to help…” she muttered, putting her notes away. “If only there were a few people nearby who can help…”

Meanwhile, Gold, Crystal, and Platinum slowly headed towards Viridian City, beginning their journey around the Kanto region. On their way, they saw Blue lost in thought right outside Red’s house.

“Eh? Isn’t that…” Gold started.

“That’s Blue… What’s she doing here?” Crystal muttered.

Hearing her name, Blue turned around, and upon recognizing Gold and Crystal, an evil smirk appeared on her face. She quickly ran towards them.

“Haven’t seen you guys in a while! I’m glad you’re here! I need your help right now!” she said, grabbing both Gold and Crystal by their hands and dragging them towards Red’s house. While being dragged, Gold managed to grab Platinum by her hand and dragged her as well.

“Wait, what do you need us for, and why?” Gold asked.

“I’m planning Red’s birthday party and I need you guys to decorate his house! Now in you go!” Blue yelled. She cheerfully tossed all three into Red’s house and shut the door.

Gold and Crystal looked at the instructions left by Blue, and upon reading the threat, sighed and joined Green and Yellow in decoration.

“First a delivery boy, then a bodyguard, and now an indoor home decorator? What am I, a slave?” Gold grumbled as he sloppily threw on some decorations here and there.

Crystal sighed as she re-decorated the areas Gold covered. “You know, Gold, it’ll take much less time and effort if you stopped whining and worked properly…”

“Yeah, yeah, Super Serious Gal…”

Green turned around and noticed a girl sitting on a couch silently. “Who’s this?”

“She’s… uh… … err…” Gold turned to face Crystal. “… What’s her name again?”

Crystal stuck a glued piece of colored paper onto Gold’s face and turned to face Green. “Her name is Platinum Berlitz and she’s one of the Sinnoh Dex Holders.”

“Really?” Green turned to face Platinum. “That makes you one of us. I’m Green,” he said, extending a hand.

Platinum jumped to her feet, shook his hand, and bowed. The heiress properly introduced herself and was introduced to Yellow, who was standing beside her. The heiress was excited to be introduced to so many of her seniors so quickly, and proceeded to ask about the others.

“Platinum, you’d probably want to talk to Red. He’s coming in a few hours for his birthday, and we’ve all been forcefully shoved in his house to decorate by Blue. Since you wouldn’t want to start off on the wrong foot with her, I’d suggest you start decorating,” Green said, interrupting Platinum. “Once the birthday party begins we can talk then, all right? If we don’t finish decorating in time, we’re all doomed.”

The heiress looked surprised for a second, but soon nodded. Rather disappointed and discouraged, she silently joined her seniors in decorating the house as per Blue’s instructions. Noticing the awkward silence that followed, Crystal approached Green.

“I think you were a little too harsh,” she whispered.

“Harsh?”

“She’s just eager to learn and meet us. You could’ve been a little nicer.”

“So what do you want me to do?” Green asked with a sigh. He never really dealt with girls who got discouraged so easily. Blue _never_ got discouraged, no matter how many times he told her to scram.

“Talk to her, maybe?”

Green thought for a second. “Fine.” He walked towards Platinum. “Hey, come with me. Let’s talk.”

“But… what about the decorations?” the heiress asked.

Green turned to look at Gold and Crystal. “Gold, Crystal, take over. I’m going to have a talk with our newest junior here. Remember, if we don’t finish decorating by the time Blue returns, we’re all doomed. Now, Platinum, come. There’s much for you to learn.”

Platinum became excited and quickly followed her senior. Gold was not so excited.

“Way to go, Super Serious Gal. Thanks to you, we just lost two decorators, and now we have even more work to do. _Great_ job.” But seeing how Green wasn’t there anymore, the goggled boy jumped onto the couch and lay down. “Yep. A great job indeed.”

“Gold! Get back here and decorate!” Crystal yelled.

“Please, Super Serious Gal, I need my bruises to heal. I may have forgiven what’s-her-name, but not you.”

Outside, Green led Platinum to Route 1. He intended on having a practice battle, and decided that it was much better to cause a ruckus in the route, not in Pallet Town. After the battle, it would be easier to talk to Platinum (giving lessons, asking who trained her, and on and on).

“Have you talked to my grandfather yet?” Green asked.

“I beg your pardon?” the heiress asked back, confused.

“Professor Oak. Have you talked to him yet?”

“Oh, yes, I have. I am terribly sorry, senior. I was unaware that Professor Oak was your grandfather. It must be wonderful to have the great Professor Oak as your grandfather.”

Green sighed. “It’s not as great as you might think. Every time some evil team arises, one of the first things they do is attempt to kidnap my grandfather. Of course, you and your father are assistants to Professor Rowan, so similar things might happen to you too.”

Platinum nodded. “Yes. Professor Rowan and my father have been kidnapped at one point. But the evil teams seem far more interested in kidnapping me. I… am afraid of what would happen to me.”

Green turned to face his junior. He noticed the 8 Sinnoh Gym Badges pinned on her scarf.

“You have all 8 Sinnoh Gym Badges. You must be stronger than that,” he said. “You’re also a Dex Holder. Be proud and train yourself.”

Platinum nodded politely. “Yes, senior.”

Green looked around and saw a big open field. “Now then, how about a practice battle? I would like to see how strong you are.”

The heiress clasped her hands together. “I would be honored if you would point out my flaws, senior!”

Excitedly, she reached into her bag for her Pokémon and ran over to the open field. Green checked his Pokémon and slowly walked after her.

…

Meanwhile…

…

D: You must be our new boss.

L: Yes.

D: Very good, sir. Anyways, welcome to SHADOWNET.

L: SHADOWNET? Is that what our organization is called? _Real_ original.

D: Well sir, I find it better than Team Aqua or Magma or Plasma.

L: Fair enough. Does SHADOWNET mean anything?

D: Yes sir. Several Henchmen Among Distressed Overworked Workers’ Network of Evil Teams.

L: … You’re kidding. What _genius_ came up with that name?

D: I did, sir.

L: … That name _sucks_. And I thought Team Rocket sucked. This is _far_ worse! Seriously. _Change_ it.

D: But… sir, we already have our uniforms…

L: Fine. Keep the name, but lose the acronym. Change the name to just ShadowNet. Can you do that?

D: Yes sir.

L: Good. Now, the very first thing we’re going to do is some scouting. Contact the other branches. If we don’t have any branches, MAKE THEM. I need at least a branch for Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, and the Sevii Islands.

D: Yes sir.

L: … Do we have other branches?

D: No sir. According to the survey, over half of our members haven’t taken a single step in another region.

L: … That’s going to be a problem. Send a group over to each of the other regions and get them to make the outer branches. Gather some willing recruits too. But be discrete.

D: Yes sir.

L: Once we gain enough information, we’ll commence Operation: UPPERCUT.

D: Operation: UPPERCUT? What do we do? Uppercut everyone we see?

L: No, you idiot! It’s a codename! You’ll see later.

D: … May I know what the operation is about? Maybe a little information?

L: Think of the move Sky Uppercut, and that attack’s characteristics.

D: … So we ARE going to uppercut everyone?

L: NO! … This conversation is over. … Great, I have a complete moron as an assistant…

D: You have a second assistant, sir?

L: …

D: Ow!


	3. Arrival

Chapter 3: Arrival

Green watched as Platinum sent out her Empoleon. For this battle, he would remain on defense and test his junior’s offensive capabilities. With that in mind, he sent out his Scizor.

“Go first,” he said, crossing his arms.

Platinum nodded and ordered a Hydro Pump. The Scizor quickly dodged and within a blink of an eye, stood right in front of Empoleon, clamping its two pincers menacingly. The heiress ordered another Hydro Pump, but her starter took a few steps backwards instead. Platinum quickly checked her Pokédex.

‘ _Scizors tend to intimidate enemies by swinging its eye-patterned pincers…_ ’

Platinum started to panic. She wanted to impress her senior with her battle capabilities, and having her strongest Pokémon intimidated wasn’t a good start. Quickly regaining its pride, Empoleon used Hydro Pump, and managed to push the Scizor back. After a sigh of relief, the heiress ordered an Aqua Jet. But to her surprise, before her starter could even prepare for the move, her senior’s Scizor charged forward and slammed its claw right into the Empoleon’s face (Bullet Punch), knocking it off its feet. The Scizor jumped on top of the Empoleon and delivered a series of Bullet Punches before attempting to use X-Scissor.

But before the attack, Empoleon rammed its head onto the Scizor’s face, forcing it to back off. Green felt a little disappointed. At the moment, Platinum didn’t seem to know what she was doing. With a sigh, he returned his Scizor and sent out Charizard. Platinum recalled her Empoleon (which took a lot of damage despite type resistance) and sent out Lopunny.

Immediately, Platinum ordered a Dizzy Punch. The Lopunny charged straight for Charizard with its paw aimed for the face. But by the time the paw came close, the Charizard opened its mouth and delivered a Flamethrower at point blank range.

Platinum shrieked in surprise and began to panic as her Lopunny, burned, staggered backwards. But a thought arose and she had it use Healing Wish. Green wondered what she was doing when the Lopunny dropped. The heiress sent out her Empoleon again, which was at full power.

In the moment it took Green to figure out why the Empoleon was at full power, Platinum had ordered another Hydro Pump. The Charizard dodged the attack, but got hit by the following Blizzard.

‘ _Hmm… impressive,_ ’ Green thought with a smile. ‘ _But I wonder how she would respond to superior firepower…_ ’

The Charizard glanced at its trainer and received a nod. Before the Empoleon could follow up with another attack, the Charizard flew high up. Platinum ordered an Ice Beam. Green countered with…

“Blast Burn.”

Platinum looked confused. ‘ _Blast Burn? I have heard that move somewhere before… Could it be?_ ’ “Full power Hydro Pump!”

The Charizard fired the ultimate attack as Empoleon used the strongest Hydro Pump it could muster.

Meanwhile, not too far away, Blue remained floating in the air on her Wigglytuff, lost in thought. Red was set to arrive in a few hours for his birthday, and… she was nervous. The only reason why she tricked him was because she didn’t know what to give him for his birthday. Her original thought was to have him and Yellow to go off on a cruise, but she didn’t think Red would enjoy it. She would save the idea for Yellow’s birthday.

Now, Blue had tricked Red to let her plan the party. If she made it enjoyable enough, then perhaps it would make up for her not having a gift. Plus, in the process of tricking him, she found a possible gift for him… not necessarily a _gift_ , though.

Blue sighed. She promised not to trick anyone, but… she just couldn’t help it. She snapped out of her thought when she saw a familiar looking Charizard flying in the air. She started to worry when that Charizard unleashed Blast Burn at something on the ground. Blast Burn was not a move Green would use against ordinary trainers or challengers. He only used the move against enemies or Red, and seeing how Red wasn’t anywhere near here… Blue quickly flew towards Green’s Charizard.

By the time she arrived, Green had already recalled Charizard. Green had his hands in his pockets as he approached a younger girl who was kneeling beside her Empoleon.

“A good battle, Platinum,” he said.

The heiress looked up at her senior. She noticed the expression on his face and knew that the battle wasn’t ‘good’ at all. She returned her Pokémon and rose to her feet.

“I can see that you are disappointed, senior. Please tell me my flaws.”

Blue hopped off her Wigglytuff and landed beside Green just as he was about to speak.

“Okay. That battle was slightly disappointing. I expected more from you. You were nervous, intimidated, and panicky. You didn’t think clearly. The Healing Wish was clever, yes. But the moment you sent out Lopunny you had it charge straight towards Charizard. That was not a smart move. Even in the heat of battle, you need to remain calm and think.” Green noticed that Platinum kept her gaze down and looked very depressed. ‘ _Damn it…_ ’ “You have potential. Work and train harder. Maybe battle the other Gym Leaders, and then we’ll have another battle.” The heiress nodded but still kept her gaze down. Green sighed and looked at Blue. “What do you want?”

“That was harsh,” Blue said, crossing her arms.

“Harsh? You never said I was harsh all the other times I said it.”

“No, I don’t mean what you said to me. I’m used to that. I meant what you said to her.”

Green sighed again. “Why does everyone say that I’m harsh? Let Red sugarcoat the criticism. Or you do it. Why don’t you talk to her then?” He turned to Platinum. “Platinum, meet Blue. One of the Kanto Dex Holders. Blue, this is Platinum. A Sinnoh Dex Holder.”

“Hello, senior…” the heiress said quietly with a bow. There was no enthusiasm in her voice anymore. She didn’t make eye contact at all.

Blue put her hands on her junior’s shoulders and glared at Green. The Gym Leader simply turned away and with Charizard, flew back to Viridian City.

…

Berlitz Mansion…

…

Sebastian sat on a chair and wondered how the Lady was doing. She hadn’t called yet, and he was worried sick. When the phone rang, he jumped to his feet and ran to answer within two seconds.

“Hello?” came a male voice from the other line.

“Hello, you have reached the Berlitz Mansion. How may I help you?” the old butler asked, stifling his disappointment.

“Uh, this is Dia, and I was just wondering if I could talk to Lady Platinum Berlitz.”

“Ah, Sir Diamond! I am pleased to speak with you again!” the old butler exclaimed. “But I am afraid that the Lady has left on a journey to Kanto.”

“Kanto? All by herself?” came Pearl’s voice from the phone.

“Yes, Sir Pearl. She believed that you were busy and she did not wish to bother you.”

“Oh… uh… thank you,” came Diamond’s voice before he hung up.

…

Twinleaf Town…

…

Pearl crossed his arms and thought. “So Miss Lady went to Kanto, huh? Dia, what do you think?”

“Huh?”

“I say we go to Kanto. We won 3 free boarding passes for the ship to Kanto in the last comedy festival, you know. Sure, they didn’t give us any return tickets, but we could figure that out later. Besides, we called Miss Lady to see if she wanted to go to Kanto with us. What do you say?”

“Sure, let’s go to Kanto. But where are we going to find her?”

“Well, we want to surprise her with our visit, so we can’t call her. But, I’m pretty sure that Miss Lady went to see the professor of Kanto first. So if we ask him, we might get an idea.”

“Great. So… what do we do now?”

“Now, we pack up, and head to Canalave. Come on, let’s go already.”

…

Pallet Town…

…

“Senior, did I do something wrong?” Platinum asked quietly.

“What do you mean?”

“Senior Green seems to dislike me.”

Blue sighed. “Green was just being himself. Don’t take it seriously.” ‘ _I warned that jerk about being… so much of a jerk! Now look what happened!_ ’

“But…”

“Listen, if I know Green at all, he probably wanted to see how strong you were. You didn’t reach his expectations because they were set too high. The only other Dex Holder he battles regularly is Red, and you can’t compare to him. In fact, you should be proud that he used Blast Burn against you.”

“I wanted to impress him…” Platinum mumbled. “But the battle ended too quickly and I ended up disappointing him.”

“It could actually be better for you because you lost that quickly,” Blue said after a short moment of thought.

“I beg your pardon?”

“Challenge him again. If you show significant improvement since the last battle, which wouldn’t be hard, then he’s going to train you. He already sees potential in you. Don’t be so discouraged.”

“If you say so, senior,” the heiress said. She felt a lot better since the battle. “I think I know a way to withstand and possibly counter senior Green’s Blast Burn,” she said after a moment of thought.

“There you go. If you surprise him, he’ll definitely be impressed.”

“I probably will not be able to win, though,” the heiress said.

“Don’t feel bad,” Blue said. “I can’t beat him either. I think Red’s the only one who can.”

“May I ask you to tell me about my other seniors?”

“Sure. Including the ones you’ve already met, there are 10 in total,” Blue said. She turned to look at Platinum, who had fished out a notepad and a pencil from her bag. “… What are you doing?”

“I believe that it will help me better acquaint myself with my seniors if I know about them, and to ensure that I do not forget anything, I shall write the information down.”

Blue looked at her for a second before she smiled and continued. ‘ _Wow, she’s quite eager to learn._ ’ “Okay, from Kanto, there are… Red, Green, myself, and Yellow. I can tell you all about the other three, but it’ll be kind of embarrassing for me to tell you about myself,” she said with a laugh. She sighed and added quietly. “And there are moments that I don’t want to talk about.”

Platinum wrote Red’s name on top of a page directly below ‘Kanto’, flipped several pages and wrote Green’s name. After doing such for the other two Kanto Dex Holders, she flipped a few more pages and wrote ‘Johto’ on top of a page.

Blue glanced at Platinum’s notebook to see what she was writing and continued. “From Johto, there are Gold, Silver, and Crys. I can tell you all about Silver, but not the other two, I’m afraid. You’ll need to ask someone else for them. From Hoenn, there are… I think their names were Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald. I don’t know much about them either.”

Platinum flipped back to the page with Red’s name and prepared to write. But before Blue said anything, they arrived at Red’s house.

Meanwhile, inside the house, Gold looked through the window while Crystal and Yellow were busy decorating.

“Crap, she’s coming back!” he declared, spotting Blue walking towards the house.

“We’re nowhere near done yet!” Crystal yelled back. “If you _helped_ us, maybe things would’ve been different!” Gold quickly ran and locked the door. Crystal sighed in exasperation. “Like that’ll stop her!”

Blue was just about to talk about what the Kanto Dex Holders have been through when she tried to open the door. Noticing that it was locked, she sighed. She reached for her Ditto’s Pokéball, but realized that she had left her Ditto (and just about all of her Pokémon except for Wigglytuff and Blastoise) inside the house (with the shopping bags).

Platinum watched in shock as her senior reached into her bag and withdrew two long metal pins, which she used to pick the lock. Within a minute, the lock was unlocked and the door opened. Platinum flipped over to Blue’s page and under the heading ‘My Own Experience’, wrote down what she just saw.

“Hold on, Platinum. I’ll talk to you after I take care of something,” Blue said, glaring at the Johto Dex Holders (particularly Gold).

While Blue scolded Gold and Crystal for not decorating fast enough, Platinum wrote down what she had noticed about Green and the Johto Dex Holders. By the time she was done, Blue was sitting beside her on the couch, waiting. The older girl didn’t look at what her junior was writing down under the ‘My Own Experience’ heading… yet, at least.

An hour later, once Blue had finished talking about what the Kanto Dex Holders have gone through, Green came back. Platinum saw him and rose to her feet. Blue noticed Green and pointed at the wall, telling him to get back to decorating the house. Platinum walked towards him.

“Senior, I wish to battle you again. Will you please accept my challenge?” she asked.

Green looked at her. “Of course. Any time you’re ready.”

The heiress bowed. “Thank you, senior. If you will excuse me, I will practice so that I do not disappoint you this time.” With another bow, she left the house and sent out her Empoleon. She remembered the experience with Blast Burn quite clearly, and had come up with a plan to counter it.

Once the heiress left, Blue walked towards Green. She wanted to talk to him about Platinum and her talent. But before she could say much, the door opened and Silver entered.

“Sis, I saw Red flying to Viridian City on my way here. I can only guess that he wanted to buy something from the store,” he said.

“What? Red’s in Viridian right now?” Blue asked. ‘ _This is Red, so he’ll spend at most 3 minutes at the shop, and it’ll take him around 15 minutes to get from Viridian to Pallet, so…_ ’ She turned towards the Dex Holders currently decorating. “Hey, Red’s going to be here within twenty minutes! So hurry up!”

“We’re almost done!” Crystal said from the other side of the house.

Blue jumped to her feet and went to assist the others in decorating. By the time the decorations were complete, Platinum came back inside, reporting that she could see something flying towards Pallet Town.

“Everyone, hide!” Blue yelled. After shutting the lights off and locking the door, she took cover behind a couch while the other Dex Holders scattered. Silver and Green simply walked around a corner to ‘hide’ from the doorway.

Before long, the door handle started to rattle as someone tried to open the door. From her hiding place, Platinum nervously held her breath.

‘ _Senior Red… one of the first Dex Holders! If what senior Blue told me is completely true, then he is one of the strongest trainers in the world! I cannot wait to finally meet him!_ ’

With really high expectations, the heiress watched as the door started to open. When the door completely opened, Red stepped in. After he shut the door behind him, he lazily stretched instead of turning the lights on. As a result, Platinum could only see her senior’s silhouette.

“Man, I’m tired… maybe I should take a nap before Blue gets here…” Red muttered, failing to notice all the decorations and sparkling things set up on the dark walls (even though faint light from the outside was making them sparkle).

He took off his coat and dropped it beside him before he finally turned the light on. He took a few steps towards the couch when-

“SURPRISE!” the hiding Dex Holders yelled as they popped out of their hiding places.

Red jumped back in surprise and ended up tripping over his coat. “Holy crap!”

“Happy birthday, Red!” Blue yelled.

The rest of the Dex Holders (except Green and Silver, who were still around the corner) started to sing the birthday song while Blue just grinned. Red, however, was not able to hear the birthday song, as he was busy ensuring that his heart was still intact.

Once the birthday song ended, Green and Silver came out of cover and greeted him. Yellow walked over towards him to help.

“Are you okay, Red?”

Red took a deep breath. “Yeah… yeah. I’m okay. You guys almost killed me, but that’s all right…” He took a look around. “Hey, where’s everyone else? And what did you do to my house?”

“We decorated it!” Blue said cheerfully. “And the other guests will be here in a few hours. Right now, the party only consists of Dex Holders.”

Red rose to his feet and looked at all of the others. He looked at a goggled boy. “Hey, Gold.”

“Yo senior, what’s up?” Gold said with a short wave of his hand.

Red turned to look at a red haired boy. “… Silver, right?” Silver nodded. Next, Red looked at a girl with dark blue hair, wearing a white hat and a long red scarf. Platinum looked up at her senior expectantly, waiting for a chance to properly introduce herself. Red looked at her for a few seconds, trying to remember a name. “… Crys?”

Gold burst into laughter while the actual Crystal groaned. Green shook his head and Blue giggled.

“Um… senior Crystal would be over there,” the heiress said, extending a hand to where Crystal was standing.

Red looked and saw the Johto Dex Holder with a hand over her face. “Oops. Sorry, Crys,” he said, nervously rubbing the back of his neck. ‘ _How embarrassing… … Wait._ ’ He turned to face the girl with the long red scarf. “Then who are you?”

“My name is Platinum Berlitz,” Platinum started. “I am an assistant to the authority on Pokémon evolution research, Professor Rowan, along with my father, and also a trainer of the Sinnoh region.”

“Really?” Red extended a hand to Platinum. “Nice to meet you, then. I’m Red.”

The heiress excitedly shook his hand and bowed. “I have heard so much about you, senior! It is such an honor to finally meet you!”

“Whoa, easy there.” ‘ _This one’s just like that other girl from…_ _that_ _other region._ ’ “So, what brings you here?” Red asked.

“I have begun my journey to travel in other regions, and I have started with Kanto,” Platinum replied politely. “I have come to Pallet Town to meet Professor Oak, and now seniors Gold and Crystal are accompanying me around Kanto. We were simply passing by when senior Blue requested that we assist in decorating your house.”

“Request? That’s a nice way of saying it,” Gold muttered. Crystal nodded.

“Anyways, Red, let’s get on with your birthday!” Blue said. “Starting with… your birthday gifts!”

“Uh… okay.”

Blue led every Dex Holder towards the dinner table where all the presents were stored. She hoped that Red would like the gifts…

…

Meanwhile…

…

D: I wanted to ask something, sir. How come we’re not going to make a separate branch for Unova?

L: Leave that region alone. Those Team Plasma freaks are over there. Let them do whatever they want. After we take over the other regions and after Team Plasma falls, we’ll take over Unova as well. Team Plasma will weaken the trainers and whatever in Unova for us.

D: A brilliant plan sir. … Then how come we’re making a separate branch for all of the other regions? Isn’t this our HQ? I don’t see the reason for a separate branch in-

L: It’ll confuse our enemies. They’ll think that one of the region branches is our main HQ. No one will ever suspect that there’s a hidden HQ somewhere in the same region!

D: Brilliant, sir. But then…

L: Each branch’s HQ will overlook that region. The main HQ will overlook all the branch HQs.

D: Ah, now I understand.

…

/ / FRAGMENT 1/ERROR [RECORDED VERBATIM AND INTERPRETED PRE-CATACLYSM]

J: And we’re just going to let him do whatever he wants?

S: I’ve seen what he’s planning on doing. He is of no concern to us.

J: But what if he succeeds?

S: He won’t. Those meddling Dex Holders will stop him and his precious little ShadowNet. Besides, our two plans are not mutually exclusive.

J: I still think we should stop him before he does anything.

S: Relax. He’s planning on something big that’ll weaken those Dex Holders and their allies. Afterwards, we’ll intervene. Also, ShadowNet will be making something that we’ll be able to use. For now, we need him.

/ / FRAGMENT ENDS

…

* * *

What Could Have Been:

Platinum listened to Blue as she described her experiences as a Dex Holder. The heiress was about to ask a question when the front door opened.

“Ah, Silver!” Blue said happily. “Come over here.” Silver did as told and Blue put a hand on Platinum’s shoulder. “Silver, meet Platinum. She’s one of the Sinnoh Dex Holders.”

Platinum gave a polite bow. “Hello, senior Silver.”

But to her surprise, Silver glanced at her once before he looked at Blue. Platinum was shocked to realize that she had been completely and so rudely ignored. With a discouraged look, she took a step backwards away from Silver and Blue.

“Sis, I saw Red heading towards Viridian City on my way here. It won’t be long before he comes here.”

The news shocked Blue, and it caused her to forget about Platinum. “What? Red’s in Viridian right now?!” She turned towards the decorators. “Hey, hurry up! Red’s coming!”

“We’re almost done!” Crystal yelled from the other side of the house.

Blue quickly went to assist in the decorating while Platinum desperately tried to convince herself that she was only ignored because of the urgent news…


	4. Healthy Competition

Chapter 4: Healthy Competition

The Dex Holders all gathered near the dinner table where the gifts were placed. There wasn’t much, but Red didn’t really mind. First up, Yellow sheepishly walked over to Red, holding a rather big gift box behind her.

“Um… here,” she said as he handed him her gift.

“Thanks, Yellow,” Red said. He opened the box, revealing a complete set of winter clothes.

“It’s really cold in Mt. Silver,” Yellow said. “And I… I thought you could use them…”

“Wow, thanks,” Red said as he examined a jacket. “It’s really freezing up there. Thanks a lot.”

Next, Green slowly walked towards his friend. “Red, the only thing I can give to you that you’ll enjoy is a simple challenge. Not a practice battle, but a full-on battle. Like the one we had in the Pokémon League. You, me, one on one battle later today. How about it?”

Red grinned. “Now that’s a hell of a gift! You’re on!”

Blue sighed. ‘ _Ah, Red… a battle is the best possible gift…_ ’

“But I’m a little tired today, and I think my Pokémon are too,” Red said.

“Rest up, then. There’s no sense in beating a weakened opponent,” Green said. “Let me know whenever you’re ready.”

Gold and Crystal approached Red afterwards. Crystal handed him a small box, containing the latest model of the Pokégear.

“Since you don’t really have your own, I thought this would be a nice gift,” Crystal said.

“It’s her idea. I bought it,” Gold said from beside. Crystal glared at him. “All right, I paid for half, and she paid the other half.” Crystal still glared at him. “… Okay, she bought it. But I got the box! And that was an expensive box!”

Red examined the Pokégear. It looked quite expensive and sturdy. “Thanks you two.” He pulled out his previous Pokégear and looked at it. “Well… I guess I could return this to Erika now. I never really used it anyways…”

Next and last, Blue rose to her feet. She casually walked towards Red and from behind, waved a piece of paper around his face. She leaned against his shoulder as he took the piece of paper.

“Surprise, Red,” Blue said cheerfully. “That’s the boring invitation card that was supposed to be sent to me.”

Red stared at the invitation card, struck speechless. It took a few moments for him to understand what happened.

“So… I _did_ remember to invite you,” he said. ‘ _So she snuck into my house and stole this? When did that happen?_ ’

“Of course, silly! But my gift to you isn’t that card, Red. It’s your pride!”

Red turned to stare at her. “What?”

“Come on, you were acting nervous around me since last week because you thought that you forgot about me. You lost your pride, and now I’m giving it back!”

Red groaned. He put the invitation card back in his pocket and sighed. “Well… thanks, Blue.” ‘ _How is returning something she took from me a gift?_ ’ He shook his head. “Well then, I guess that’s everyone. So what n-”

Platinum timidly raised a hand. “Um… senior? I… I would like to give you a gift…”

“Huh? Uh… okay.”

The heiress nervously reached into her bag and with both hands, presented an envelope to her senior. Red took the envelope and opened it.

“Whoa…” he muttered.

“Since I was unaware that today was your birthday, there was insufficient time for me to purchase a suitable gift,” Platinum said. “I hope you appreciate the substitute…”

“200 000 PKD…” Red muttered. ‘ _Damn, that’s a lot of cash…_ ’ “Thanks… … what was your name again?”

“It is Platinum, senior…” the heiress replied. She bowed slightly and returned to her seat.

“Way to go,” Gold said. “Now all our gifts look like crap.”

Yellow sighed. “Now my present doesn’t seem important…”

Platinum saw the not-so-friendly looks she was receiving from some of her seniors and realized her mistake. ‘ _Oh no… what have I done?_ ’ “Please excuse me,” she said before quickly leaving.

Noticing the awkward atmosphere, Blue led everyone to the living room so that the Dex Holders could play a game. The others also preferred to lighten the mood and all agreed.

…

A few minutes later…

…

Platinum sat on the floor of the room she was hiding in. She leaned against the door and berated herself for her mistake. She reached into her bag (which she still had) and withdrew her Pokégear. She dialed a series of numbers, and hoped that the person she was calling would pick up.

…

Route 201…

…

Diamond looked at his Pokégear.

“Hey Pearl, the Lady’s calling.”

“Don’t answer, Dia. She’ll probably ask where you are, and you’re a horrible liar. Remember, we’re going to surprise her with our visit.”

Diamond looked at his Pokégear again before he hesitantly put it away.

…

Pallet Town…

…

Platinum sighed as she put her Pokégear away. She considered calling Pearl, but decided not to. Since Diamond and Pearl were always together, if Diamond was unable to answer the call, Pearl wouldn’t be able to either. Also, the heiress only wanted to talk to Diamond, since his words tended to calm her down.

‘ _Oh, I am such a fool…_ ’ she thought to herself. She could hear laughter from the outside and sighed again. ‘ _I must apologize to each of my seniors…_ ’ After taking a deep shuddering breath, the heiress slowly and quietly left her hiding place.

In the living room, Red was playing a board game with Green while Blue and Crystal engaged in a different board game. The others watched and cheered, and in some cases, distracted the players.

“Choose your move carefully, Crys,” Blue said. “One mistake, and you know you can’t beat me. And remember, the loser has to do whatever the winner says.”

“Yes, I know!” the Johto Dex Holder replied. She picked up her stone and examined the board carefully. ‘ _There! If I place a stone over there, I could trap a huge portion of Blue’s stones, and…_ ’

“Hey, Super Serious Gal!” Gold suddenly yelled, just as Crystal was about to put her stone down. The girl jumped in surprise, accidentally dropping the stone in the wrong place.

“No, no, no!” she shrieked.

“I warned you!” Blue said with a laugh. She placed her stone in a crucial spot, preventing Crystal from any further attacks. “Oh, come on, Crys! Don’t tell me this is all you got!” she taunted.

Crystal turned to glare at Gold. “Gold! Look what you made me do!” She returned her focus to the game, trying to predict what Blue would do next.

“Um… senior?” came Platinum’s voice from behind.

“Not now, Platinum, I’m busy!” Crystal yelled. She placed a stone in a crucial defensive position. “Whew… that’s one threat gone…”

Silver examined the board carefully. He could see a flaw in Crystal’s layout of her stones…

“Senior Silver?”

Silver leaned towards Blue and whispered into her ear. “Sis, if you place your stones over-”

“Hey, Silver! That’s not fair!” Crystal yelled. “I’m already losing!”

Yellow took a glance at the Blue vs. Crystal game and continued to watch Red as he battled Green.

“Red, I know it’s been a while since you last played, but…” the Gym Leader started. He moved his vehicle into an attack position. “This is just pathetic! You left your king completely defenseless!”

“Don’t belittle me yet, my friend,” Red replied. “What you see as a weakness could just be a trap!” He moved his catapult so that if Green’s vehicle was to try to attack the king, the catapult would take the vehicle out instead.

“Um… senior Red?” came Platinum’s voice from behind.

“Hm?”

Before Red could even turn to face his junior, Green smirked and took out Red’s catapult with his elephant. Yellow sighed. She saw that one coming…

“Red, Red, Red… Surely that wasn’t your trap?” the Gym Leader taunted. “Come now, that wasn’t a trap! It was so blatantly obvious!”

Red stared at the game board. “The battle is _far_ from over!”

…

A few minutes later…

…

“… Okay, this battle is over,” Red grumbled. ‘ _Complete annihilation…_ ’

“Ha, you lost, Super Serious Gal!” Gold exclaimed from beside.

The 3 Kanto Dex Holders turned to examine the results of the Blue vs. Crystal game, and noticed that the Johto Dex Holder got thrashed. Crystal glared at Gold, fuming.

“Would it kill you to help me? This was more of a 3 on 1 game! Silver was helping Blue, and you were purposely distracting me! When I said ‘distract’, I meant distract _her_ , not me!”

“Don’t you know that cheating is wrong? You tried to cheat, so I penalized you. You still put up a good fight despite all that,” the goggled boy said. He raised his bottle of soda into the air, as if offering Crystal a toast. But he forgot the fact that he had removed the lid a while ago… The moment the bottle reached the peak of its climb, the soda (quite a _lot_ of soda) spilled out of the bottle from the momentum and fell onto Crystal. “Oops… Uh oh…”

“GOLD!” Crystal screamed. The soda spilled onto her hat, soaking her hair. Grumbling, she rose to her feet. “Great. Now I have to wash my hair quickly before the sugar dries!” On her way to the bathroom, she ‘accidentally’ hit the soda bottle, pouring the drink all over Gold.

“Oh, that was just childish, Super Serious Gal!” Gold yelled. “What I did was an accident!” Unlike Crystal, however, the goggled boy simply took a paper towel to wipe the soda, not caring about the after-effects.

Crystal headed towards the bathroom and tried to open the door. Realizing that it was locked, she knocked. A second later, she could hear the sink turn on and some water splashing. Several seconds later, the door opened and Platinum came out.

“Platinum? What are you doing all alone?” Crystal asked. “Come join the…” she trailed off upon realizing something odd. She could see that her junior’s eyes were red, and despite the heiress’s best efforts to cover it up, Crystal could see what happened… “Were you crying?”

The heiress didn’t reply and kept her head down. Crystal glanced around the corner at the living room. No one seems to have heard. She looked at her junior and pointed at an empty room.

“Hey, why don’t you wait there for a little while? I’ll be back really soon. I just need to wash something,” she said.

The heiress didn’t reply again and quietly entered the empty room. A few minutes later, Crystal entered the room, having thoroughly washed her hair clean of the soda. She found Platinum sitting on the floor, leaning against the wall. She beside her junior and tried to sound as nice as possible.

“Platinum, what’s wrong?” she asked. “Come on, you can tell me,” she said when she received no response. The heiress still didn’t reply, but her lips started to quiver. Crystal looked with horror when tears started to fall from her junior’s eyes. “Hold on, I’ll get you some tissues.”

Crystal quickly left the room and ran to get a box of tissues. But before returning to Platinum, she went to the other Dex Holders first.

“Blue, we have a problem here,” she whispered, so that only Blue may hear.

“Huh? What do you mean?” the older girl asked.

“Platinum’s crying…”

Blue froze. “What? Why?”

“I don’t know,” Crystal replied. “We need to calm her down…” she said, before hurriedly returning to Platinum.

Blue followed her junior, trying to think of a reason why the heiress would be crying. The moment she saw her sitting in the corner of the room all alone, a thought occurred.

‘ _Oh no… we completely neglected her all this time!_ ’

Blue sat beside Platinum and asked what was wrong. The heiress looked at her once before looking down at the floor again. She didn’t reply, but started to sob. Her seniors continuously tried to get her to calm down, but after a minute, the heiress finally burst into tears.

“I – I wish I was home!” Platinum cried out. “I miss my friends, my family, a – and people who care about me!”

“Platinum… we care about you,” Crystal said gently.

“I should not have come…” the heiress sobbed out. “I made too many mistakes… and now all of my seniors hate me!”

While Crystal desperately tried to calm her junior, Blue noticed that the heiress had her notepad on the floor beside her and reached for it. Platinum didn’t bother to stop her. Blue flipped through the notepad. She noticed that under ‘My Own Experience’ for every Dex Holder present, the heiress had written ‘Not as great as I expected’ in big letters.

Blue rose to her feet and left the room. She needed to tell the others about this. But to her surprise, when the door opened, most of the others were waiting outside. They could all hear Platinum crying, and were wondering what was happening. Blue shut the door behind her and with a sigh, started to explain why Platinum was crying. The heiress was so enthusiastic about meeting her seniors, and even started to take notes on them. But since morning, she had been interrupted, glared at, and ignored by her seniors. She had been severely disappointed.

“In short,” Blue said. “She thinks she came all this way from Sinnoh just to be hated, and she thinks it’s her fault.”

Red started to rub the back of his neck. “Oh… damn. That’s not good.”

“She wants to go home. I have no doubt that she’ll head to Vermillion City the moment she leaves this house. We can’t let her do that. If she goes back home now, we’ll lose her forever.”

Suddenly, the door opened from behind and Crystal appeared with Platinum behind her.

“She wants to say something to all of you,” Crystal said. She stepped aside and the heiress took a few steps towards her seniors.

“I… I would just like to apologize for everything…” she muttered out quietly. She looked up at Red for a split second. “Senior Red, I am terribly sorry… I did not wish to ruin your birthday.”

“Too late for that,” Gold muttered. He froze when Platinum burst into tears again. ‘ _I probably shouldn’t have said that…_ ’

“Gold! You’re not helping!” Crystal yelled. She grabbed Gold by his ear and dragged him away. “What’s wrong with you?”

…

Route 201, near Sandgem Town…

…

Diamond felt something odd. Something… didn’t seem right. Platinum had tried to call him many times, and as per Pearl’s suggestion, he didn’t answer. But looking at the 15 missed calls on his Pokégear, Diamond couldn’t help but think that Platinum needed him and he was ignoring her… He wished that he could get to her faster, but unfortunately, he didn’t have a Pokémon that could be used as aerial transport. Neither did Pearl. ETA to the professor in Kanto was 4 days, and he hoped that Platinum would remain nearby…

…

Pallet Town…

…

The other Dex Holders sat in silence while Platinum was in the bathroom. The heiress had noticed the mood of the birthday party, and in order to lighten the mood, she needed to stop crying. And to help with that, she chose to wash her face with cold water.

Blue sat beside Red with a sigh. “Red, this isn’t what I planned for your party,” she started.

“I know.”

“I’m sorry,” Blue said quietly. “The only reason why I tricked you was so that I could plan the party. I… didn’t know what to get you for your birthday, so the least I could do was make your birthday enjoyable. I thought it would be a little weird if I just asked you whether I could plan your party, and…”

“It’s okay, Blue,” Red said. “Besides, it’s nothing compared to what you did to me the first time we met.”

A few seconds later, Platinum came back out. She wasn’t crying anymore, but still sniffled occasionally and looked crestfallen. She sat on the empty seat that was saved for her and took a deep shuddering breath.

“Hey, why don’t you tell us about your friends?” Blue suggested. She figured getting Platinum to talk about various things would help lighten the mood.

“… I only have two friends,” the heiress said quietly. “Diamond and Pearl. They are Sinnoh Dex Holders.”

As the heiress began to describe her two friends, Blue noticed that her expression was getting lighter, to the point where she began to smile. Thinking of her two friends really helped.

“Diamond and Pearl, huh? I’d like to meet them,” Blue said. “Can you call them and ask them to come here?”

Platinum’s expression darkened. “I have already tried to contact them, but they did not answer.”

Red suddenly perked up. “Hey, while we’re waiting for those two to make contact, why don’t we all have a little battle tournament?”

Blue turned to face him. “What?”

“A battle tournament. Just like the one we had years ago. Gather everybody here, and let’s have a friendly tournament. There’s nothing wrong with a little healthy competition, now is there?”

Green smiled. “I suppose it would be interesting to see how much stronger everyone has become.”

“What do you think, Platinum? You’re going to meet the rest of your seniors,” Crystal said from beside the heiress.

The heiress looked at her senior and after a moment of thought, slightly nodded. ‘ _All of my seniors? The last thing I want to happen is to disappoint more of my seniors… I must be careful._ ’

“Crystal, where’s Emerald?” Green asked.

“He should be in Slateport City. Knowing him, he probably finished his task yesterday,” the girl replied after a moment of thought.

“Good. Get him to return. I’ll see if I can get my grandfather to call Professor Birch.”

* * *

**Special Adventures may seem to go slowly at first before sh*t starts to happen. Enjoy the slow bonding build while it lasts.**

* * *

 

What Could Have Been:

“GOLD!” Crystal screamed. The soda spilled onto her hat, soaking her hair. Grumbling, she rose to her feet. “Great. Now I have to wash my hair quickly before the sugar dries!” On her way to the bathroom, she ‘accidentally’ hit the soda bottle, pouring the drink all over Gold.

“Oh, that was just childish, Super Serious Gal!” Gold yelled. “What I did was an accident!” Unlike Crystal, however, the goggled boy simply took a paper towel to wipe the soda, not caring about the after-effects.

Crystal headed towards the bathroom and reached for the door handle when she could hear someone sobbing. Surprised, she looked around and realized that the sound was coming from inside a dark empty room. Crystal looked inside and was surprised to find Platinum sitting alone in the corner, sobbing with her face buried in her arms…

Crystal quickly ran towards the other Dex Holders, ‘accidentally’ hitting Gold’s soda bottle, pouring the drink all over the goggled boy a second time.

“Everyone, listen. Platinum’s crying…”


	5. A Day at the Beach

Chapter 5: A Day at the Beach

Route 101, Hoenn…

In a thick forest, a figure completely covered in thick leaves stood on a tree branch, looking around. The figure jumped off the branch, swung on a vine and landed on another thick branch. The figure took a Pecha Berry from the tree and took a bite.

“Hey, cave-girl! Where are you?” came a familiar voice from below.

The figure, being Sapphire, clenched her hands so hard that the Pecha Berry practically exploded in her grip.

“Did I get your attention yet? Hey!”

‘ _He still calls me that? I’ll show that pansy!_ ’

Sapphire jumped off the branch and after silently swinging on various vines, landed on a branch directly above Ruby. She reached into her bag and pulled out a Bluk Berry. She was going to give that to him so he can make one of those Pokéblocks for his Contests, but now it would serve a different purpose. Sapphire aimed and with all her strength, threw the Bluk Berry directly at Ruby’s head. More specifically, his hat; his clean, perfectly unstained white hat that most likely came straight out of the washing machine.

The Bluk Berry exploded on contact with Ruby’s head. The impact knocked him off his feet and he landed in… a puddle of mud. Sapphire laughed as Ruby began to freak out.

“Argh! Mud! It’s everywhere!” he screamed out. “I just washed these clothes!” After flailing around for a few seconds, he got back to his feet. He looked disgusted as he tried to wipe away some of the mud. He glared at Sapphire as she landed on the ground right in front of him (away from the mud, though). “Damn it, Sapphire! Look what you did!”

Sapphire crossed her arms and grinned. “You shouldn’t have called me that.”

“So you made me fall into mud just because of that?”

“Oh, that’s not all I did…” Sapphire looked at Ruby’s no-longer-clean hat. She started to laugh again when she saw the huge black stain…

Ruby looked confused. He put a hand on his hat, felt something wet, and took his hat off to examine it. He froze when he saw the remains of the Bluk Berry and the huge black stain.

“Sapphire!” he yelled, glaring at her. “What the hell! Is this a… _Bluk_ Berry? The stain’s never going to come off!” He looked at his hat once more. “Argh! I have to wash this thing as soon as possible!”

Sapphire watched as Ruby ran away. Satisfied that she dealt enough damage, she slowly walked after him. After all, Ruby must’ve tried to find her for a reason. Upon arriving at Littleroot, she found Ruby’s house and sat on a tree branch directly in front of the window of the boy’s room.

An hour later, Ruby appeared in his room, in clean clothes that looked exactly the same as the attire he wore before falling in the mud. Then again, Sapphire recalled that Ruby had a closet full of identical clothes. Ruby saw her and after a sigh, opened the window.

“So why’d you look for me?” Sapphire asked.

Ruby sighed once more. “I was trying to tell you that I have a message from Kanto.”

“Huh?”

“Professor Oak called your father and your father told me that the Kanto Dex Holders want all the Dex Holders gathered in Pallet Town. I wasn’t told why, though.”

Sapphire perked up at the mention of the Kanto Dex Holders. Without warning, she reached over, grabbed Ruby by the collar of his shirt and dragged him outside.

“Then why didn’t you say so? Let’s go!” After hurling Ruby down to the ground (he landed on his feet so his clothes didn’t get dirty), she stuck her fingers in her mouth and delivered an ear-splitting whistle. “TORORO!” she screamed shortly after. Within a minute, her Tropius arrived and Sapphire jumped on. “Well? Get on!” she yelled at Ruby, who simply stared at her.

Ruby grumbled something about being over-enthusiastic and climbed on. Before he even had a good grip, Sapphire ordered her Tropius to head straight to Slateport City.

…

Half an hour later, Slateport City…

…

The two Hoenn Dex Holders landed in front of the harbor. The ship was set to leave for Vermillion City in an hour, and Sapphire hastily urged Ruby to get the tickets. But as the two Hoenn Dex Holders approached the waiting area, something strange happened. They could hear the sound of Pokédex resonation…

“Huh, Emerald must be nearby,” Ruby said.

Sapphire glanced around and sniffed at the air. She pointed ahead. “There he is!”

The two Hoenn Dex Holders ran to find the third Hoenn Dex Holder. Emerald tried to hide, but Sapphire soon caught him.

“Ah, crap…” he muttered as Sapphire grabbed his shoulders.

“Hi Emerald! I haven’t seen you in a while!” she said. “What are you doing here?”

“Professor Oak and Crystal sent me here,” Emerald replied. ‘ _I knew I should’ve gone back to Kanto as soon as I completed my task…_ ’ He looked at the ship that was still docked. ‘ _Stupid ship… if only that thing left an hour earlier…_ ’

“So did you hear that our seniors are calling for us?” Sapphire asked.

“Yes. I heard from Crystal.”

“Do you know why?” Ruby asked. “This barbarian thinks that we’re all gathering for a big battle tournament.”

“I told you to stop calling me that!” Sapphire growled at him.

“Well if you’d act a _little_ more civilized, then I wouldn’t!”

Emerald groaned as his two fellow Hoenn Dex Holders started to bicker. He looked at his watch. ‘ _55 minutes… with these two…_ ’ He sighed and looked at the bickering duo. “Would you two shut the hell up?” ‘ _This is going to be a **long** trip…_ ’

…

Several hours later, Pallet Town…

…

Platinum sat on a chair and listened to Crystal as she talked about Emerald. The heiress didn’t look as crestfallen as she did a few hours ago, but she still remained silent and kept all thoughts to herself. By talking to Yellow and Blue (the two most friendly looking Kanto Dex Holders), the she learned about most of the Dex Holders, but still knew nothing about the Hoenn Dex Holders. Luckily, Crystal was able to help out with a third of that problem. And for the sake of surprise, no one told Platinum that Green was the Viridian Gym Leader. As a result, the only thing the heiress knew of the Viridian Gym was that Red could’ve been the Gym Leader, and that ‘someone strong’ is the current Gym Leader.

Thanks to Yellow’s explanation, Platinum understood why Silver was acting so cold. She also understood what Blue meant when she said there were moments in her past that she did not like to talk about. The heiress found it shocking that Blue was so cheerful compared to her dark past.

Crystal finished talking about Emerald’s involvement with Jirachi when Blue declared that dinner was ready. Blue and Yellow were on dinner duty, Crystal had to take care of Platinum while the four male Dex Holders… played games.

Platinum waited for all of her seniors to take a seat around the dinner table before she sat. And as per etiquette, she waited for all of her seniors to start eating before she joined. She thanked her seniors for the meal and took a bite of the food on her plate. The food was delicious, but her expression slightly darkened as she remembered something.

“Platinum, what’s wrong?” Crystal asked. “Is the food bad?”

“Oh, no,” the heiress said quickly. “The food is very delicious. It is just that… Diamond is an excellent cook himself, and the delicious food reminds me of him…”

…

Jubilife City…

…

“Hey Pearl, can’t we get to Canalave City any faster?” Diamond asked.

“… I never thought I’d be able to say this to you, but… What’s the rush?” Pearl asked back. “We’ll be at Canalave tomorrow.”

“It’s just been so long since I last saw the Lady, you know?” ‘ _I have a feeling that she needs me…_ ’

Pearl looked at his friend and raised an eyebrow. “Well… I miss her too. I guess if we skip dinner and ride our bicycles, then we might get to Canalave before the last ship leaves. We’ll need to find one of those water-taxis that’ll take us across the water in Route 218 as soon as possible, though.”

…

A few hours later, Canalave City…

…

Diamond waited while Pearl went to trade the free tickets into boarding passes. Before long, Pearl came back.

“Hey Dia, great news!” he said. “Apparently the tickets we got were for the speed boat.”

“Huh?”

“The regular ship would arrive in the night of August 10. But the speed boat would arrive around noon of August 10. We’ll save around 10 hours.”

“That’s great. So when does it leave Canalave?”

“In… five minutes. Let’s get on board!”

…

August 10, 12:45 pm., Vermillion City harbor…

…

Emerald got off the ship with his Magic Hand Extensors placed firmly over his ears. Behind him, Ruby and Sapphire followed, still bickering about why the Kanto Dex Holders wanted them. Sapphire was convinced that the reason was for a battle tournament while Ruby argued that not everyone is a battle-freak like she is. The Hoenn Dex Holders left the harbor and felt the difference between Kanto and Hoenn. The slight difference in temperature did nothing to aid Emerald in his attempts to shut up the other two Hoenn Dex Holders.

At the same time, the speed boat from Sinnoh had arrived and Diamond and Pearl took their first step into Kanto. The two Sinnoh Dex Holders left the harbor and instantly noticed the difference between Kanto and Sinnoh.

“Whoa… it’s so…” Pearl started. “… It’s so damn hot here!”

From beside, Sapphire looked at him. “Hot? I’d say it’s kind of… cool here.”

“Cool? You call this cool? Something’s wrong with you!”

Before Sapphire and Pearl could start an argument, Ruby and Diamond separated the two.

“Remember our purpose here, Sapphire,” Ruby said. “We have to get to Pallet Town.”

“Pearl, we have to find the Lady first. Arguing with random strangers isn’t going to help us,” Diamond said.

The Hoenn trio walked away from the two Sinnoh Dex Holders. Before Sapphire sent out her Tropius, she saw someone running towards them.

“Ah, there you are!” the person said.

“Crystal! Nice to see you again!” Sapphire said excitedly.

Emerald ran up to Crystal. “Save me!” he said when he got close. “Those two have been arguing for two days straight!”

Crystal smiled. “Well, I came to make sure that you three know where you’re going. Pallet Town, right?”

“Yes,” Ruby replied. “Why are we here, exactly?”

“Red suggested a battle tournament,” Crystal replied.

Sapphire burst into laughter. “Ha, so I _was_ right!”

Ruby grumbled and looked away. Sapphire sent out her Tropius and climbed on. Ruby sighed and climbed on too.

“Hey Emerald, aren’t you coming?” Sapphire asked.

“I’d rather walk,” Emerald grumbled out.

“Emerald, get on the Tropius. You don’t have aerial transport,” Crystal said.

Emerald grumbled as he climbed onto the Tropius. Crystal watched the Hoenn trio disappear into the distance then headed towards the nearest shop.

“Where are you, you stupid…” she grumbled out.

“Hey, Super Serious Gal, that’s not very nice,” said Gold as he exited the store. As expected, he was munching on some cookies.

“Why do you always leave me to do all the work? You should greet your juniors too, you jerk.”

“Well, why do we always have to go greet them? Why can’t someone else do it?”

Crystal sighed in exasperation. “Why am I always stuck with you, Gold?” ‘ _Huh… I recall talking about that with Green at one point…_ ’

“You should be nicer to me, Crys,” Gold said with a grin. “You lost that game to senior Blue, right? Which means you have to do whatever she tells you to. So… if I were to give her a suggestion that she would find amusing…”

Crystal stomped up to Gold and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt… a ‘technique’ she learned from Silver and Green.

“Don’t you dare!” she growled. “If you do, I’ll…”

“What are you going to do? Get Proto-Gal to kick me again?”

“Who?”

“That girl from Sinnoh. You know, her and those… _protocols_.”

Crystal kicked Gold in the knee before she released and pushed him away.

“Ow… I’m telling.”

Before Crystal could say anything, she could hear someone running from behind.

“Hurry up, Dia!” came a voice. “We need to buy a map of Kanto and some cold drinks NOW!”

Crystal turned around and saw two boys running towards the shop. The boy in the lead had blonde hair, and wore a green scarf. The boy struggling to keep up had a red scarf, and had what appeared to be rice cakes in his hands.

Crystal suddenly recalled what she heard from Platinum. ‘ _A hasty boy with blonde hair with a green scarf named Pearl, and a relaxed boy with black hair and red scarf who loves to eat named Diamond, or Dia for short! Could it really be them?_ ’ Just as the leading boy was about to pass her, Crystal grabbed his arm. “Excuse me, what’s your name?” she asked.

“Pearl,” the boy answered.

“Is your friend named Dia?” Crystal asked. Pearl nodded. “Do you know a girl named Platinum Berlitz?”

“Miss Lady? Sure I know her. How do you know her?” Pearl asked.

“We’re her seniors. My name is Crystal, Crys for short, and…” Crystal started, turning to look at Gold. The goggled boy was busy trying to balance his billiard cue on his nose… “… That’s Gold… from New Bark Town.” Crystal shook her head and faced the two Sinnoh Dex Holders. “And we’re Johto Dex Holders. Platinum came here a few days ago and we took her to Pallet Town to meet Professor Oak and the other Dex Holders.”

Gold took the billiard cue off of his nose and compressed it inside its handle. “So you’re the ones Proto-Gal’s been continuously talking about. Hasty and Slow.”

“Platinum’s been trying to call you for the past three days. Why didn’t you answer?” Crystal asked.

“Well… we were trying to surprise her with our visit,” Diamond replied. “Could you take us to her?”

“Sure. But from what I heard, you two don’t have any aerial transport…” Crystal thought for a few seconds. “In that case, let’s go through the Diglett’s Cave. Platinum told me you have bicycles so that shouldn’t be a problem, right?”

Pearl looked at Diamond. “You think she’s trustworthy?”

“Only one way to find out,” Diamond replied.

The two Sinnoh Dex Holders stood beside each other and looked at Gold and Crystal. After a short moment of silence, Pearl and Diamond moved into action.

“Speaking of Pokémon!”

“Speaking of Pokémon~!”

…

Half an hour later, Pallet Town…

…

“So Ruby, who do you want to avoid fighting in the Battle Tournament?” Sapphire asked.

“Well, I wouldn’t want to fight at all, but I guess I’d avoid you at all costs,” Ruby replied. “You’d probably get your Pokémon to throw mud at mine for the sole purpose of dirtying them.”

“I hope I don’t get to fight Red,” Sapphire said.

‘ _I hope I don’t get to battle Crystal,_ ’ Emerald thought to himself. ‘ _But I’d love to battle these two… Maybe I’ll get a chance to shut them up for good._ ’

The Tropius landed on the ground and Ruby hopped off. Sapphire’s ears twitched and she looked to the left, where she could see a group of people walking closer. She recognized the person in the lead, and quickly ran to greet him.

Red looked ahead just in time to see Sapphire before he ran into her. The girl grabbed his hands and started to shake excitedly.

“It’s so great to see you again!” she squealed out.

“Uh… yeah,” the Kanto Dex Holder muttered. “Well, let’s get the battle tournament started!” he said, before taking a look around. “Hey, where are Gold and Crys?”

“I think Crystal went to the store in Vermillion to find Gold,” Sapphire quickly replied. “But do you remember me?”

“You’re… uh…” Red frowned, trying to remember. “Your name was… S… something…” With a sigh, Yellow walked up to him and whispered in his ear. “Oh yeah, you’re Sapphire. I knew that…”

Sapphire smiled and bowed to him. She was a little disappointed that her role model didn’t remember her, but she understood. She didn’t see him in a long time, after all. She figured that spending more time with him would fix that problem. Maybe he could even _train_ her. Oh, how she’d like that…

After shaking his hand once more, she ran around to bow to all of the other Dex Holders. She stopped mid-bow in front of a girl she had never seen before. Sapphire knew that she was one of the junior Dex Holders, so she assumed that everyone with Red were her seniors. But she never recalled seeing a girl younger than her during the Battle Frontier incident. Seeing her confused look, Blue spoke.

“This is Platinum Berlitz from Sinnoh,” she said. “She’s one of the Sinnoh Dex Holders. Which means, Sapphire, you’re her senior.”

Platinum gave a polite bow. Sapphire simply rubbed the back of her neck, unsure of what to do or say.

“Me? … A senior?” Sapphire gently shook the heiress’s hand. “Well… it’s nice to meet you.” She turned to look in the direction of Ruby and Emerald, who were still near the Tropius. “HEY, GET OVER HERE!” she roared. “I’ll be right back, rookie,” she said to Platinum before she ran back to the other two Hoenn Dex Holders.

“Rookie?” Platinum muttered.

“Well, you’re not exactly green,” Blue said from beside. “No Dex Holder is. But compared to the other Dex Holders, you do have the least experience.” She turned to look at Red. “Well, since everyone except Gold and Crys are here, let’s go to a place where we can battle and have fun doing other things.”

“Such as?” Red asked.

“The beach, of course. The beach in southern Pallet Town. This town’s small and quiet enough that no one would bother us there.”

Red shrugged and started to walk south. The other Dex Holders followed. Blue made Yellow tell the Hoenn Dex Holders while she called Crystal to let her know what’s happening.

…

Vermillion City…

…

Crystal was listening to Pearl explain why he and Diamond were at Kanto when her Pokégear rang. After the (rather abrupt) comedy act, Diamond and Pearl decided that the two Johto Dex Holders were trustworthy and not bad guys. Though Crystal didn’t laugh or smile at all to the act, Gold had nearly laughed himself to tears.

Crystal looked at Gold who was still laughing. She shook her head before she took her Pokégear out. Blue told her through the phone that the battle tournament would be taking place in the beach, and in turn, Crystal told her that the remaining two Sinnoh Dex Holders have arrived, but want to surprise Platinum. The Kanto Dex Holder understood and agreed to not tell anyone.

After hanging up, Crystal looked at her two juniors. “Okay. Listen, Gold and I need to get to Pallet Town right now so we don’t cause any suspicion. We won’t tell anyone that we saw you two.” She handed them a small map of Kanto. “Take the Diglett’s Cave and upon exiting, head straight south. You’ll eventually pass Viridian City and arrive at Pallet Town. We’ll be waiting for you.”

“What about Miss Lady?” Pearl asked.

“She’ll be with us,” Crystal replied. “Remember, she won’t be expecting you, but she really misses you two.”

Crystal sent out her Xatu while Gold sent out his Mantine (and lots of Remoraids). The two Johto Dex Holders waved good bye to the two Sinnoh Dex Holders and flew towards Pallet Town. Diamond and Pearl watched their two seniors disappear before they took out their bicycles and headed towards Diglett’s Cave.

…

Meanwhile…

…

L: Are our scouts ready?

D: Ready for what, sir? Scouting the enemy?

L: No, getting ready for dinner. We have a big feast planned for- OF COURSE SCOUTING! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK?

D: Oh. Yes, they’re in position. Who are our enemies?

L: Those Dex Holders. Everyone knows that they are the main threat to our organization.

D: Oh right. Those _kids_. Yes, our scouts report that just about all of them are gathered in Pallet Town.

L: Good. Make sure our scouts just observe them. Do not underestimate them, and do NOT try to fight them.

D: Understood sir.

L: And if they get the chance, see if they can kidnap that girl from Sinnoh. She’s filthy rich, you know. Holding her for ransom would really help us.

D: Understood sir. I’ll tell our scouts to kidnap her now.

L: No, you idiot! Not when all the Dex Holders are gathered together! Our scouts will be destroyed! Tell them to _look_ for the opportunity. Like… when the girl is alone and preferably tired.

…

/ / FRAGMENT 2/ERROR [RECORDED VERBATIM AND INTERPRETED PRE-CATACLYSM]

S: I hope you’re not planning on betraying me again.

J: Why do you accuse me of that?

S: I know it was you that gave hints to ShadowNet that those Dex Holders are in Pallet Town. You’re hoping that those Dex Holders will wipe them out before they do anything. And I told you, we need them for now. Trust me. ShadowNet won’t be a concern to us.

J: And why should I trust you? You betrayed us at one point, you Galactic scum.

S: I never betrayed Team Rocket. I was never on their side. Besides, you betrayed them first. And you should be careful. The only reason you’re here right now is because your skills with machines is necessary. Don’t make me change my mind. But rest assured; after you’ve fulfilled your purpose, you can leave and I will leave you alone.

J: You think I’m afraid of you?

S: We’ll see.

/ / FRAGMENT ENDS

…

* * *

**Gold’s nickname for Platinum is Proto-Gal. Pearl would be Hasty, Diamond would be Slow. And for Sapphire calling Platinum as ‘rookie’... well, paired with what Blue says immediately afterwards, that’s another reference! There have been so many references so far…**

* * *

What Could Have Been (1 of 2):

“Why are you wearing those leaves again?!” Ruby demanded. “What did you do with the clothes I made for you?”

“Those things rip easily,” Sapphire replied. “They’re not good for me whenever I’m helping papa with his research.”

“You mean they’re not suitable for you since the clothes are classy and you’re a barbarian.”

Sapphire briefly considered in murdering Ruby. Instead, she simply turned away. Without warning, she took off the leaf camouflage. Ruby quickly covered his eyes and turned away.

“Relax you sissy,” Sapphire said. “I’m still wearing those clothes.”

“Right…” Ruby cleared his throat. “Anyways, I was going to…” he trailed off when some of the remains of the Bluk Berry slid from his hat and onto his shoulder.

With a sigh, Ruby took off his hat and tried his best to wipe away the remains. Sapphire glanced at the Salamence scar on boy’s head, reminded once more of the fateful event…

…

(2 of 2)

…

Blue watched from the ground as the Hoenn trio flew towards Pallet Town. She was about to do the same when she heard a voice from behind.

“Hurry up, Dia! We need to buy a map of Kanto and some cold drinks NOW!”

‘ _Dia? Could it be Diamond that Platinum was referring to?_ ’

Blue turned and looked as two boys ran towards the nearest shop. She noticed the color of their hair and scarves, and realized that the two boys were Diamond and Pearl. She quickly ran towards the shop as well and waited for the two to come back out. Before long, the two boys came out and ran into Blue.

“Are you two Diamond and Pearl?” she asked. “And do you know a girl named Platinum Berlitz?” she asked when she received nods from the two.

“How do you know Miss Lady?” Pearl asked.

Blue withdrew her Pokédex and showed it to them. “I’m her senior. She’s with the other Dex Holders right now. If you’d like, I could give you a lift to Pallet Town. Platinum really wants to see you again, after all.”

Diamond and Pearl glanced at each other. But since the older girl was holding a Pokédex, the two Sinnoh boys felt that they could trust her and nodded…


	6. Delusions and Grandeur

Chapter 6: Delusions and Grandeur

1:40 pm, Pallet Town…

Platinum watched from behind as her seniors from Hoenn interacted. Once again, the heiress had been severely disappointed. From what she could hear, Ruby did not like battling or anything that could get dirt on him. It made Platinum wonder how he became a Dex Holder to begin with. She made a mental note to find out about his past so she may understand his personality. It worked with Silver, so it should work for Ruby as well.

Sapphire, on the other hand, didn’t seem to match the heiress’s definition of a _person_. The Hoenn Dex Holder ran on all fours, didn’t know how to read properly, loves to climb trees and possessed inhuman physical strength; not to mention the fact that she had no visible manners. Also, she kept bickering with Ruby. Constantly. Platinum recorded what she noticed about Sapphire on her notepad. But she decided that she should wait before making any conclusions.

Emerald seemed too… strange. He was shorter than Platinum, had artificial arms and legs (from what the heiress could see), had what appeared to be a chunk of the Green Orb on his forehead, and generally acted like a troublemaker. The heiress had heard from Crystal that he was an unwanted orphan, and as such, sympathized with him. She made a mental note to ask him where he got that piece of the Green Orb. She recalled hearing from her mother that she worked on creating the Green Orb, but had to cancel the project.

Platinum turned to look at her other seniors. Green and Silver were sitting underneath a tree, waiting for the two Johto Dex Holders to return. Red was dozing off in the shade and Blue sat on the grass with her feet in the water. Blue had said ‘beach’ but the heiress noticed that the water was calm and serene like Lake Verity of Sinnoh. It was nothing like the noisy beach south of Sandgem Town.

“Hey Platinum,” Blue said, looking at the heiress. “Come and put your feet in the water. The water’s so cool!”

Platinum hesitated a little but nodded and ran towards her senior. She would have politely refused two days ago, but she had lightened up significantly thanks to her seniors’ efforts. Platinum first put a hand in the water to feel the temperature. Afterwards, she took off her pink boots and her long black socks and put her feet into the water. The moment the cold water hit her feet, the heiress felt the heat of the Kanto summer vanish.

“Feels good, huh?” Blue asked.

“Yes. It is very pleasant,” the heiress replied.

Suddenly, Platinum could hear beeping noises all over the place. From beside, Blue took her Pokédex and pressed a button to shut off the resonation. The heiress noticed that all of her other seniors did the same. She turned around and saw Gold and Crystal land.

“It’s called Pokédex resonation,” Blue said.

“Yes, I am aware of that function,” Platinum said. “But I have never heard resonation of more than 3 Pokédexes.”

Blue chuckled. “Well, our Pokédexes were modified so they would also resonate when all 10 Pokédexes with the proper owners were gathered nearby. I’m sure that Professor Oak will upgrade all our Pokédexes at least a little so that the resonation occurs when all 13 Pokédexes gather.”

Platinum took out her own Pokédex and looked at it. ‘ _I wish mine would resonate…_ ’ “My friends and I always called the resonation as the morning sound.”

“Morning sound? Why?”

The heiress smiled faintly. “When we traveled together, we would always stay in the same hotel. When I go to the lobby every morning, Pearl is waiting for me with an expression that tells me that I am late. We wait until our Pokédexes resonate, and that is when Diamond comes to the lobby too. We shut off the resonation at the same time and we would begin the day…”

Blue smiled. “So you have pretty fond memories of the Pokédex resonating, don’t you?”

“Yes.”

“You should enjoy those moments. Keep making those fond memories,” Blue said. “I envy you for that… I don’t have many good memories. Most of them I’d rather forget.”

“I am awfully sorry, senior,” the heiress said hastily. “I did not wish to-”

“Hey, it’s okay,” Blue said with a bright smile. “It’s all in the past now. Besides, I have my parents back, and I have real friends. What more can I ask for?”

Platinum looked at her senior with admiration in her eyes. Blue let out a short sigh and moved her hand and eyes towards her neck. The heiress could see that her senior was wearing a necklace with a heart shaped pendant. The Kanto Dex Holder gingerly brushed her finger across the pendant, with a longing look in her eyes. Platinum noticed that her senior’s expression became slightly sad. She was about to say something when Red’s voice stopped her.

“Hey, let’s begin the battle tournament!”

Blue withdrew her feet from the water. She gave Platinum a smile that appeared slightly forced. With a towel she had nearby, she dried her feet and put her socks and shoes back on. Platinum did the same and rose to her feet.

“There are 11 of us right now,” Yellow started. “So… would you mind if I don’t participate?” she asked Red. “I mean… I… don’t really want to battle anyone…”

Red nodded. “Sure. I know you don’t like fighting. So if you don’t want to battle, then that’s okay. But can you still heal all of our Pokémon after each battle?”

“Of course,” Yellow replied. “I’d be glad to.”

“So… who’s going to fight who?” Red asked.

Blue raised a hand. “I have an idea!” From her bag, she took out a sheet of paper and a pencil. She wrote the names of all the Dex Holders participating in the battle, and then cut the paper into 10 pieces so that each piece had a Dex Holder’s name. She then took off her hat and placed the pieces inside.

“I’ll draw names for the first battle!” Blue looked away while she shuffled through the pieces of paper in her hat. She picked one and pulled it out. “Huh… I’m up first, I guess,” she said, reading her own name on the piece of paper. “And I’ll be battling…”

Crystal clasped her hands together. ‘ _Not me… not again…_ ’

Blue looked at the drawn piece of paper and grinned. “Crys!”

“Ah, darn it…” the Johto Dex Holder grumbled.

Blue gave the two pieces of paper and her hat to Platinum to hold. She reached into her bag and withdrew her Pokéballs. Crystal also got prepared for battle.

“Why do I have to battle you again?”

“I hope you trained, Crys,” Blue said with a smile. “Though the result is still going to be the same as last time.”

“I don’t think so, Blue. I’ve gotten a lot stronger since then,” Crystal replied. ‘ _Ah, who am I kidding… she’s going to thrash me… again…_ ’

Gold walked up to Crystal and patted her on the back. “You’re screwed, Crys.”

The girl sighed. “Thanks for the… _encouragement_ , Gold…” She looked at Blue. “So… is there anything on the line in this tournament?”

“Of course!” Blue replied cheerfully. “If you lose in the first round, there’s no lunch and you get clean-up duty afterwards. Lose in the second round then you’re on clean-up duty for dinner. Lose in the third round then you’re on lunch duty. Lose in the final round, and… nothing happens. The winner can order us around for today.”

“No lunch?!” Crystal gasped out. ‘ _Oh… I’m hungry already…_ ’

…

8 minutes later…

…

Crystal groaned as she returned her Meganium back into its Pokéball. Despite type advantage and a well placed Frenzy Plant, the Meganium fell to Blastoise’s point-blank Hydro Cannon.

‘ _I thought she was up to something when she let Megapeon get free hits…_ ’ Crystal thought to herself. “That was… a dirty trick,” she grumbled to her senior. “You let Megapeon to get free hits so that your Blastoise would steadily take damage, so that its ability Torrent would activate…”

“I’m glad you figured it out,” Blue said with a smile.

“You also had Blastoise keep spinning to reduce the damage taken so there is no risk of you actually losing.”

“Yes. But don’t forget the occasional Mirror Coat to weaken your Meganium. That way, the Torrent boosted Hydro Cannon was enough to finish the battle. Also, I was careful enough to not trigger your Meganium’s Overgrow.”

Crystal sighed. “The dirty trick was that… you actually made me think that I could win. You gave me a false sense of hope!”

Blue chuckled. “Well… that wasn’t really my fault now, was it?”

Crystal sighed and walked out of the battlefield.

“You put up a good fight, Crys,” Gold said as he walked towards her. “But you know, with 10 people in the tournament, 5 people are going to lose in the first round.”

“I hope you battle Red or Green, you jerk,” Crystal growled out. “That way, you’ll get destroyed!”

“Ouch, Crys. That’s harsh!” Gold complained. “Why would you hope such things? If anything, shouldn’t you be cheering for me?”

“Well, let’s just say it’s like… Destiny Bond,” Crystal replied. “If I’m not eating lunch, you’re not either.”

Gold grinned. “So you want to be with me so much that you’re willing to bond your destiny with mine, huh?”

“What?! No!” Crystal yelled. “I’d never-”

Blue smiled as the two Johto Dex Holders started to argue. She received her hat from Platinum and proceeded to draw another pair of names from the remaining 8 pieces of paper.

“Next up!” she yelled, gaining everyone’s attention. “… Silver, and… Emerald!” she looked at the red headed Johto Dex Holder. “Good luck, Silver!”

“Thanks, sis,” Silver replied.

“Battle number 3 will be between…” Blue started. “… Sapphire, and…”

“Come on, Ruby!” Sapphire yelled. “Let me fight Ruby!”

“Come on, not me!” Ruby yelled. “Let her fight someone else!”

“Sapphire will battle… Red!” Blue yelled.

“Ah crap!” Sapphire yelled. “Wait… Red? … Oh no…”

“Yes! Not me!” Ruby exclaimed happily. “And no chance of me fighting her in the tournament entirely!” Noticing the deadly glare Sapphire was giving him, Ruby cleared his throat. “I mean… good luck.”

“The fourth battle will be between… … Ruby and… … Gold!” Blue yelled out.

“Darn it!” Crystal yelled. “Ruby, you better beat Gold!”

Platinum gasped. “Then… the fifth battle is… between me and senior Green?”

Blue looked at her junior. “Sorry, Platinum. But… it’s all chance.”

As the heiress mentally prepared herself for her battle against Green, Silver battled Emerald in the second battle of the tournament. But soon, she found herself watching the battle intently. She couldn’t believe how… talented Emerald was. She heard what Crystal said about him, but she didn’t quite believe it.

Platinum focused on the battle. Silver and Emerald were battling with everything they had and seemed on par. The heiress noticed that she would not have stood a chance if she were to battle one of them.

“Wow… They are so evenly matched,” she muttered 15 minutes into the battle. “And they are so strong…”

Blue smiled. “They’re not evenly matched,” she said. “Look, Silver’s been holding back. He hasn’t sent out his Feraligatr yet. I don’t know why though. Maybe he wants to use full power against Red or Green.”

“Come on, Emerald! You can do it!” Sapphire yelled from behind.

“Silver, stop holding back!” Blue yelled.

Silver nodded and took a deep breath. The battle had worn out Emerald’s Pokémon, and as a result, when Silver’s Feraligatr appeared, the battle ended within a minute.

“Good job, Silver,” Blue said with a smile. “You’ve grown much stronger since the last time I saw you battle.”

“Thanks sis.”

“You put up a good fight, Emerald,” Sapphire said as her fellow Hoenn Dex Holder left the battlefield.

Emerald ignored her as he sat in the shade of a tree. ‘ _Well… at least one of the bickering couple’s going to lose right after me._ ’

Platinum sat in the shade of a different tree and watched as the 3rd battle started. She didn’t expect much, though. She doubted that Sapphire had enough, if any, talent to last more than a minute against Red. But once again, her impression of the Hoenn Dex Holder was inaccurate. She couldn’t believe it, but the wild Dex Holder was a lot more talented than she was…

‘ _No… this is impossible…_ ’ Platinum thought to herself. ‘ _How could she be stronger than I am? She is so… uncivilized. She cannot read, has no manners and… is stronger than me?_ ’

Though Sapphire eventually lost (her Blaziken and Aggron were not enough to handle Red’s Venusaur and Aerodactyl), Platinum couldn’t help but notice that her senior lasted more than 10 minutes against Red. Considering that the heiress had lost to Green within 3 minutes…

“Good battle, uh… Sapphire,” Red said as he approached his junior. “I haven’t had a battle like that in a long while.” The Kanto Dex Holder patted Sapphire on the back. “If you’d like, how about I train you? You want to get stronger, right?”

The girl clasped her hands and dropped to her knees. “Oh, I’d love that! Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

Platinum started to feel dizzy. Sapphire was so much stronger than her… even _Red_ offered to train her… And all the heiress got from battling Green was broken self-esteem.

‘ _Impossible… In my battle against senior Green, I must prove that I am better than senior Sapphire… I must…_ ’

As a result of the shock, Platinum was unable to focus on the 4th battle. All she could tell was that Gold lost thanks to Crystal’s constant interference (the girl threw twigs, branches, rocks, and occasionally Pokéballs at the goggled boy’s head, trying and succeeding in distracting him).

…

Battle 5, 2:45 pm…

…

Platinum stood on the battlefield, nervously clenching her Empoleon’s Pokéball. In contrast, Green stood on the opposite side, looking completely normal.

‘ _Okay… I need to last more than 10 minutes or even possibly defeat senior Green if I am to prove that I am better than senior Sapphire. I cannot lose to someone so uncivilized!_ ’ Platinum thought with a nervous gulp.

“So we meet in battle again,” Green said slowly. “I don’t want to make you starve, but I do have a scheduled battle against Red, preferably in the finals.”

“I… I understand,” the heiress said after another nervous gulp.

“And I hope that you’ve improved since last time.”

Blue noticed from behind that Platinum seemed to be shaking. It became evident when the heiress fumbled with a Pokéball.

“Platinum! Relax! You’ll do fine!” Blue said from behind.

Platinum took a deep breath and calmed down. She sent out her Empoleon and prepared for battle. Green sent out his Charizard.

‘ _No… it is impossible for me to last more than 5 minutes against senior Green…_ ’ Platinum thought. ‘ _And I cannot beat him either. However, if there is anything I can do, it is impressing all of my seniors with a creative counter._ ’ “May I request that you use Blast Burn?” she asked politely.

“Hm? You _want_ me to use Blast Burn?” Green asked, a little surprised.

“What’s she doing?” Sapphire asked Blue. “I mean… when I battled Red, the last thing I wanted was him to use Frenzy Plant…” ‘ _Which he did…_ ’

“I… don’t know what she’s thinking,” Blue replied. “She did say that she had a method of withstanding Green’s Blast Burn. Maybe she wants to test it out?”

“Very well then. Blast Burn!” Green ordered.

The Charizard took a deep breath and prepared. Platinum jumped into action.

“Now, Empoleon! Execute Plan 1!”

The Empoleon stalled for a split second before aiming Hydro Pump at the sky. Just as Charizard opened its mouth to deliver the ultimate attack, the Empoleon started to spin while aiming another Hydro Pump at the ground. The water hit the ground with enough force to bounce back up, effectively forming a shield of water around the Empoleon. By the time the Blast Burn hit, the Hydro Pump aimed at the sky fell back down, effectively simulating rainy weather. The Blast Burn’s power was weakened by the pseudo rain and was weakened even further by the water shield. And when the remainder of the attack hit Empoleon, because the Sinnoh Pokémon was rapidly spinning, the damage was lessened.

“Whoa…” Gold muttered.

“That’s incredible! Way to go, Platinum!” Crystal cheered.

Half a second before the attack ended, the Empoleon stopped spinning.

“Now! Maximum power Hydro Pump!” Platinum ordered.

The remaining Blast Burn did damage Empoleon, but wasn’t enough to make it faint. Instead, it only triggered the Torrent ability, thus greatly increasing the power of Hydro Pump. The Empoleon aimed so that its Hydro Pump would hit the Charizard without hitting the Blast Burn.

“Impressive,” Green muttered. ‘ _She knew exactly how long it would take for the Blast Burn to get ready, and how long it took for the attack to hit. She practiced enough so that her Empoleon would have the perfect timing to perform its counter… And she got her Empoleon to attack when Charizard would need to rest after using Blast Burn…_ ’ “Most impressive!”

“We are not finished yet! Drill Peck!” Platinum ordered right after.

The Empoleon flew straight towards Charizard (which was significantly weakened by Hydro Pump) while spinning. But Green withdrew Charizard before the attack hit and sent out Porygon2. The Drill Peck hit hard. Noticing the effectiveness, Platinum got her Empoleon to do it again. But this time, the attack barely did anything.

“That was really impressive, Platinum,” Green said. “But I must thank you for using Drill Peck against Porygon2.”

“Conversion 2, is it not?” the heiress asked. “That is why your Porygon2 took such little damage from the second Drill Peck.”

“Yes. I’m surprised you found out so quickly. Tell me. What types resist Flying types?”

Platinum thought for a second. “Steel, Rock, and…” Her eyes opened wide in shock. “Electric!”

“Exactly! Zap Cannon!”

The Porygon2 instantly charged a massive electric ball and shot it towards Empoleon. Platinum instantly panicked and the attack hit before the Sinnoh Pokémon could do anything. And thanks to Conversion 2, Porygon2’s type became Electric, thus Zap Cannon gained a power boost.

Platinum returned her Empoleon back to its Pokéball. She had lost once again. She checked her Pokétch; it had been one minute and 39 seconds since the battle started. Green returned Porygon2 and approached her. The heiress looked down again; she thought that she had disappointed her senior once more. But to her surprise, Green patted her on the shoulder.

“That was very impressive,” he said. “I think you deserve this.”

The Kanto Dex Holder dug into his pocket and retrieved what appeared to be a Gym Badge. He gave it to Platinum, who received it with a very confused look. Then it all made sense.

“Are you the Gym Leader of Viridian City?” she asked in surprise. Green nodded.

“The others kept it a secret because it was going to be a surprise. I wanted you to find out when you entered the Gym during your travels after you became stronger, but I don’t think that’s necessary.”

“But… do I not have to defeat you for the Gym Badge?”

“Not really. I can just give the Badge to whoever I think is deserving of one.” Green gave another pat on the shoulder before he turned around. “Besides, you almost beat me today.”

Platinum gave a deep bow to her senior. “Thank you very much!”

“Wear the Earth Badge with pride,” Green said. “It’s a Badge that even Red doesn’t have.”

“You don’t have the Earth Badge?” Sapphire asked Red.

“Well… I beat Giovanni in the Viridian Gym,” the Kanto Dex Holder started. “But… let’s just say that neither of us was in any condition to worry about a Gym Badge.”

Platinum looked at the Earth Badge once more before she pinned it on her scarf below the Sinnoh Gym Badges.

‘ _I tried my best. Yet in the end, I did not last even two minutes against senior Green, nor did I defeat him. I must accept defeat. Senior Sapphire is clearly much more talented than I am…_ ’ Platinum turned to find Sapphire in the group of other Dex Holders. ‘ _I must learn more about her…_ ’ She spotted her senior still talking to Red, and the heiress’s eyes opened wide in shock when she noticed 8 Gym Badges pinned on the Hoenn Dex Holder’s bag. ‘ _Could it be?_ ’

“So, what do you think about Platinum?” Blue asked Sapphire.

“Well… she’s really smart,” Sapphire replied. “That was a creative counter. I never thought that you could withstand Red or Green’s ultimate attack.”

“Um… senior Sapphire?” came Platinum’s voice from behind.

“Yeah?” Sapphire turned to face her junior.

“May I talk to you in private?” the heiress asked politely.

“Sure.”

“All right people, we’re going to take a small break before we move on to round 2!” Blue yelled from behind.

Sapphire glanced at her senior before she signaled her junior to follow. She headed away from the other Dex Holders, towards a small forest beside the beach.

…

Meanwhile…

…

“Hey, that’s her, isn’t it? The really rich girl that we’re trying to kidnap,” said a man as he remained hidden in the forest.

“Yeah. That’s her. But it looks like she’s with someone,” said the other man.

The two ShadowNet grunts watched as the two Dex Holders came closer.

“Let’s go and get her right now,” said the first grunt.

“No. We need to make sure that she’s completely alone. If we attack now, we’ll lose.”

“But… the other one’s just a little girl! We can take her!”

“No, don’t!”

“Fine. We’ll wait a few minutes. But if nothing changes, then I’m going to attack them.”

…

3:00 pm…

…

Platinum listed as Sapphire briefly described her journey around Hoenn.

“So you were the one who obtained all 8 Gym Badges within 80 days?” the heiress asked in shock.

Sapphire nodded. “Yep. Although I did spend about a month fighting all the bad guys.”

“That is incredible, senior!” ‘ _I was a fool to think that I could be stronger than her. Wow… perhaps she could teach me a few things._ ’

“But hey, tell me about yourself. I mean… you must’ve done some…” Sapphire trailed off. With an alerted look, she focused on her hearing. “… Rookie, get ready. Someone’s coming…” she whispered.

Platinum looked surprised, but she reached for Rapidash’s Pokéball nonetheless. Sapphire gripped her Donphan’s Pokéball and waited.

The moment the two ShadowNet grunts (the second grunt followed so that they’d have a _slightly_ higher chance of succeeding in the kidnapping) sent out their standard-issue Golbats, they were greeted by a Rock Tomb (Donphan) and Fire Blast (Rapidash). The two ShadowNet grunts sent out more standard-issue Pokémon, only to be quickly beaten down. They were about to send out their last Pokémon when an Ice Beam flew right above their heads.

Sapphire turned around and saw Ruby and his Milotic. The Ice Beam had been a warning shot.

The two ShadowNet grunts decided to run away. Sapphire considered in chasing them, but because the two grunts had no uniform or logo whatsoever, she thought that they were just some muggers. Chasing and capturing them wouldn’t do anything.

…

“I warned you!” the second grunt yelled at the first while running as fast as he could. “I warned you, but did you listen to me? Oh no you don’t… Didn’t you? Oh, she’s just a harmless little girl, isn’t she? Well it’s always the same! I always tell people but do they listen to me? Oh no…”

“Oh, shut up!” the first grunt yelled back. “Just keep running!”

…

“Well… thanks, Ruby,” Sapphire said as she returned her Donphan. “Though I don’t think we needed your help. Those two… sucked.”

Ruby returned his Milotic and crossed his arms. “You never know that they’re carrying some sort of a secret Pokémon. Besides, I wasn’t going to help out but…” Ruby smirked. “You didn’t really beat them as fast as I thought you would. Looks like I overestimated you,” he taunted.

A vein bulged from Sapphire’s forehead. “Why you… Just because I lost in the first round, it doesn’t mean I can’t take care of myself! And what do you mean overestimate? You think I suck at battling?”

Platinum returned her Pokémon and followed her two bickering seniors as they walked back towards the other Dex Holders (who were out of sight range). Despite their appearance, the two Hoenn Dex Holders had battling talents far greater than her own. She now looked at them with newfound respect, but at the same time felt a little despair. All of her seniors were so much stronger than her, and it made her feel pathetic around them. The heiress vowed to try much harder to become stronger…

Platinum glanced where the two weak men ran away. She wondered who they were and why they wanted to attack. But seeing how all of their Pokémon were wiped out pretty easily, she doubted that they would be much threat (should they return), and chose to ignore them.

…

Meanwhile…

…

“Finally! We’re out of the cave!” Pearl yelled. “Dia, where are we?!”

“Uh… Route 2,” Diamond replied, examining the map. “If we head straight south, we’ll arrive at Pallet Town after Viridian City and Route 1.”

“And Miss Lady’s still in Pallet Town?”

“Well… if what Crystal said was true, then yeah.”

“Great… it’s going to take us like 3 hours to get there…” Pearl grumbled. He shifted the gear on his bicycle to the fastest setting. He had shifted gear in the cave as he needed to be careful not to disturb the Digletts and Dugtrios. “Dia, why don’t we have any Pokémon that can carry us through the skies?”

Diamond simply shrugged as he shifted the gear on his bicycle as well. “Neither does the Lady and she gets around pretty well.”

“Whatever,” Pearl said. “We’re going to ride straight south, with no breaks whatsoever. If we go fast enough, we might be able to get to Pallet Town a lot faster. Okay… let’s see if we can get to Viridian in half an hour. Let’s go!”

Pearl started to pedal as fast as he could. Diamond pedaled as fast as he could as well, his urge to see Platinum again fueling his strength.

* * *

What Could Have Been:

“The first battle is going to be between…” Blue said as she dug through her hat. “Platinum and… … Sapphire!”

Platinum sighed in relief. She still believed that she could handle Sapphire easily. The heiress sent out her Empoleon while Sapphire had her Blaziken out.

It wasn’t until the Blaziken hit Empoleon with a really strong Sky Uppercut that Platinum felt something was wrong. She thought it was a fluke, but when the Blaziken used Blast Burn, the heiress realized that she had severely underestimated her senior all along.

But the problem was that… Sapphire was aware that Platinum was disrespecting her. The Hoenn Dex Holder smirked and returned her Blaziken to its Pokéball once Empoleon couldn’t battle anymore.

Platinum returned her Pokémon and quickly ran towards Sapphire. She wanted to and needed to apologize for the lack of respect. But when she got close, she could see the 8 Hoenn Gym Badges pinned on her senior’s bag…


	7. A Whisper in the Storm

Chapter 7: A Whisper in the Storm

Blue watched as Yellow finished healing the last Pokémon involved in the 1st round of the battle tournament. The younger girl looked _really_ tired, and Blue was starting to worry.

“Yellow, are you okay?” she asked.

“Yeah… I’m okay,” Yellow replied. “I’ve been training so I can use more of my powers without falling asleep.”

“Really? That’s great,” Blue said. “Maybe if you keep practicing and training yourself, you could use your powers without getting tired at all.”

“Maybe in time.” Yellow suddenly yawned. “I know I can heal about 6 Pokémon in one day without falling asleep.”

‘ _6?_ ’ Blue looked at the ground where all the Pokéballs of the healed Pokémon were gathered. ‘ _… There are 17 Pokéballs here…_ ’ “How long have you been practicing?”

“…”

“Yellow?” the older girl called when she received no answer. Upon closer inspection, Blue realized that Yellow had fallen asleep. After a second, she called Red over.

“What’s up?” Red asked.

“Look, Yellow fell asleep. We should move her to the shade,” Blue said. “And by ‘we’, I mean you.”

Red shrugged and gently lifted Yellow onto his arms. Blue watched as he headed towards the shade of a big tree. She felt… envious of Yellow. She remembered being carried by Red like that, and recalled how… _comfortable_ it was. Blue looked over to Green (who sat in complete silence in the shade) and wished that she had _someone_ who would carry her like that from time to time. The girl turned her focus to Gold and Crystal when their voices caught her attention.

“Crys, since you cost me my lunch, you can forget about getting a good present for your upcoming birthday next month.”

Crystal clenched her hands into fists. “My birthday was over three months ago, you jerk!”

“Oh…” Gold muttered. He appeared really surprised. “Then… whose birthday am I thinking of?”

Crystal crossed her arms and turned away. She was quite upset about the fact that Gold wasn’t there to attend her birthday party over three months ago (he wasn’t in the region at the time), and now she was positively pissed about the fact that he had _forgotten_ her birthday entirely.

The goggled boy rubbed the back of his neck. “Uh… sorry, Crys.”

“Too late for apologies, you jerk,” Crystal said angrily. She stormed away from Gold and decided to _not_ get him nice gifts anymore.

Blue walked towards Red and Yellow. Yellow was sleeping peacefully and Red stood by, not knowing what to do. He hoped that the second round of the battle tournament would start soon.

“She looks cute when she’s asleep, huh?” Blue asked Red.

“I guess,” the champion replied. “Hey Blue, when are we going to start the second round? And… isn’t it a little too late for lunch?”

Blue sighed. ‘ _Changing the subject, huh? Oh well…_ ’ “I guess we started the battle tournament a little too late. I guess we should start the second round now.”

“Good. Let’s hurry up. I want to face Green in the finals once more.”

“Right.” Blue turned to face the other Dex Holders (Platinum, Ruby and Sapphire have returned). “Okay, let’s start round 2!” she yelled. “But because of the time, we’re going to change the punishment! The losers of round 1 won’t get dinner!”

Crystal groaned. She barely had anything for breakfast that day. She had skipped lunch, and now there would be no dinner either…

“The loser of round 3 is on dinner duty! Nothing else changed!” Blue continued. “Now let’s begin!”

The 5 eliminated Dex Holders all sat in the shade and watched as Blue drew names from her hat once more. There were 5 names left in that hat, and only four would be selected. The two winners’ names would be placed back inside the hat and two random names would be drawn for round 3. The winner would then face the remaining Dex Holder for the final round.

Crystal sighed. If she knew that she was going to have to face Blue (or any of her seniors) in the first round, she would have eaten something in Vermillion City…

“Hey Crys, you hungry?” came Gold’s voice from beside.

Crystal glanced at him, and noticed that he was eating some of the snacks he bought in Vermillion City (and the some he had in his bag from before). The girl didn’t reply and looked away from him. Gold grinned. He tapped her on the shoulder and presented her a cooked sweet potato.

“You can have it, if you want,” he said. Crystal looked surprised. The goggled boy continued. “But you’ll have to forgive me for forgetting your birthday.”

Crystal scowled at him, but eventually sighed and accepted the sweet potato. She would forgive him this time, but next time, there would be no forgiveness.

Platinum watched her seniors and wished that Diamond was with her once more. The relaxed boy always had snacks with him, and the heiress was starving. Watching Gold, Crystal, Sapphire, and Emerald eating didn’t help either. Sapphire was eating berries from her bag, and Emerald had snatched a berry from the bag when the girl wasn’t looking.

Platinum noted sadly that once again, none of her seniors had noticed her needs… With a sigh, she decided to focus on the battle tournament so that she would forget her hunger.

“Okay, the first battle of round 2 will be between…” Blue started. “… Red and Silver!” ‘ _Ouch… sorry, Silver…_ ’ “Battle two will be between… Green and Ruby!” ‘ _Whew… good thing I didn’t end up facing Red or Green… for now, at least._ ’

…

20 minutes later, 3:50 pm…

…

Silver and Ruby joined Gold, Crystal, Sapphire, Emerald, and Platinum under the shade. They put up a good fight, but as expected, were demolished by Red and Green respectively. Platinum looked at the remaining 3 seniors in the battle tournament. Only the Kanto Dex Holders were left, so the remaining battles were going to be extremely good.

Blue nervously started to pick two random names for the 3rd round. ‘ _Well… I have to fight Red or Green… I hope I fight Red. He might take it easy on me…_ ’ “Next battle is between…” Blue drew a name. “Me, and…” ‘ _Not Green, not Green, not Green, not…_ ’ “… Red!” ‘ _Yes! Not Green!_ ’

Platinum had her notepad out and got ready to write down the strategies used in the Red vs. Blue battle. Blue took a deep breath and prepared to battle. She knew she wasn’t going to win. But Red would take it a little easy on her. Probably not enough to win, though. Well, making dinner wasn’t _that_ bad. At least Red’s Pokémon weren’t at full health. Since Yellow was still asleep, the Pokémon involved in the battles were healed with Hyper Potions, and… there weren’t enough for everyone. As a result, the Dex Holders had to share, which didn’t fully heal any of the Pokémon.

…

Viridian City, 4:00 pm…

…

Pearl impatiently paced around his bicycle while Diamond stood beside his with some rice cakes in hand. The two Sinnoh Dex Holders couldn’t ride the bicycles anymore, because…

“Flat tire? What the hell?” Pearl yelled out. “And why did your wheel fall off?”

“Well… I guess riding through the Diglett’s Cave damaged our bicycles,” Diamond replied. “There were a lot of rocks there, after all.”

“Where’s the nearest bicycle repair shop?” Pearl asked.

Diamond searched through the map of Kanto. After some 15 minutes (and over 30 urgings from Pearl), he finally found what he was looking for.

“The nearest shop is in Cerulean City.”

“Cerulean? Where is that?”

“… Far away from here. We’d probably be able to get there in two days if we walk.”

Pearl let out an explosive sigh. “That’s it then. We’re walking to Pallet Town. We’ll fix our bicycles later. … It’ll take us over 5 hours to get to Pallet Town by walking!”

Diamond took a bite out of his rice cakes. “Well, we better get going then. The Lady’s waiting for us.”

…

Pallet Town, 4:30 pm…

…

Blue sat beside her juniors in the shade. Surprisingly, Red _didn’t_ take it easy on her at all… And as a result, she lost pretty quickly. She received half of a sandwich from Silver and watched as Red and Green prepared for battle. It turned out that Red and Green had enough healing items (which they didn’t share with the other Dex Holders) to fully restore all of their Pokémon, that way they could battle each other at full strength. No sense in defeating a weakened opponent, apparently.

Platinum had already filled out a page worth of notes from the Red vs. Blue battle. And now she prepared to fill out more pages from the Red vs. Green battle.

…

Ecruteak City…

…

Morty slowly opened his eyes. He could feel something… some sort of a disturbance, as if something horrible was going to happen soon. He left his Gym and concentrated, trying to pinpoint where the horrible disturbance would occur. After a few minutes, he caught a glimpse and quickly headed south.

…

6:30 pm…

…

Platinum sat on a chair in Red’s house, still awed by the Red vs. Green battle that took over an hour. Red managed to win… barely. The two Kanto Dex Holders were so evenly matched… The battle left both Red and Green satisfied, and lots of holes and craters on the ground. Several trees were lost in the battle as well. Since Red won the battle tournament in the end, he now had the ‘privilege’ to order the rest of the Dex Holders around for the remainder of the day. And all he did was order the losers of the first round to help out with dinner and dinner clean up, except Platinum.

“You’re from a really rich family. I can’t let you do things like cleaning dishes,” Red had said. “Besides, you came a long way from home.”

“What about my seniors from Hoenn? They came a long way too,” Platinum had asked back.

“Well… they’re no longer the youngest Dex Holders.”

As a result, the heiress now simply sat on a chair and watched as her seniors prepared dinner. Sapphire, Gold, and Crystal were helping Blue with dinner, and Emerald was to be on clean up duty along with Silver and Ruby.

Platinum had already talked to Ruby and learned a lot about Sapphire. But there seemed to be gaps here and there in Ruby’s story. The heiress made a note to ask Sapphire herself for information on those gaps. But for now, she didn’t know what to do.

From the kitchen, Gold and Crystal came out. The girl was groaning as she held an ice pack on her right leg and the goggled boy was rubbing the back of his neck.

“Senior Crystal? Are you okay?” Platinum asked.

“Yeah… I’m fine,” Crystal replied as she limped towards the couch.

“What happened?” Emerald asked.

“Some jerk _accidentally_ poured boiling water on me,” Crystal growled out, glaring at Gold.

“Hey, you’re the one who bumped into me when I was carrying that bowl!” Gold argued back.

“Seriously Gold, you’re going to be the death of me someday.”

While the two Johto Dex Holders started to argue, Platinum went to the kitchen. Since Gold and Crystal weren’t helping anymore, the heiress thought that she could be of some help.

The heiress found it to be an interesting experience. Making food herself was… quite fun. She learned many things during the process; mainly that… she wasn’t good at all. It was a good thing that Blue charged her with a small portion of the side-dishes. Platinum figured that she needed more practice to become better. Once again, Diamond’s presence would have been greatly helpful…

…

11:30 pm…

…

Platinum sat up and gently stretched. She had been asleep for around half an hour. She couldn’t sleep anymore because it was too uncomfortable. The Dex Holders split into two so that half would sleep in Green’s house and the other half in Red’s house. Platinum was in Red’s house, along with Red, Yellow, Gold, Ruby, and Sapphire. While Red slept in his own bedroom, the others had to find other places to sleep, and because there was no guest room, they had to sleep in the living room. Gold took the couch. Yellow, who had been dozing off after healing the rest of the Pokémon involved in the battle tournament, was fast asleep on the floor, leaning against the couch. Sapphire was snoring on the floor and Ruby slept quietly on the floor far away from her. The heiress also had to sleep on the floor, and since she was used to sleeping on beds in expensive hotels, she could not sleep well.

Platinum carefully rose to her feet and neatly folded the blankets (everyone sleeping in the living room was given blankets for the night) she was given. She silently and carefully stepped towards the front door. Luckily for her, Gold and Sapphire’s snoring masked any and all noises she made. After putting her boots back on, Platinum quietly left the house. She needed some fresh air and some time to herself.

The heiress missed her two friends. Being constantly near her seniors meant that she had to be careful not to offend or disrespect or even disappoint anyone. And the pressure of being around people who were far stronger than her was straining. At least with Diamond and Pearl, Platinum didn’t feel that pressure and instead, felt at ease. As a result, the heiress needed some time by herself to lessen the stress. In time, she would feel more and more comfortable being around her seniors and she would not receive any stress. But that was not the case right now.

The heiress took out her Pokégear and considered in calling Diamond again. She had called him over 30 times, but still got no response.

‘ _Maybe… maybe he is ignoring me,_ ’ she thought with a sigh. She could feel tears starting to form in her eyes. ‘ _Maybe Diamond and Pearl were not my friends after all…_ ’ As she wiped away the forming tears, she heard something that made her wonder whether she was dreaming.

“… Lady?” came an all-too familiar voice from behind.

Platinum froze. ‘ _That sounded like… … no, it cannot be Diamond. If he is here, then Pearl is also here. If both of them are here, then my Pokédex would have resonated…_ ’ The heiress could feel her heart starting to beat faster. She placed a hand over her heart and slowly turned around. She dropped her Pokégear in shock. “… Diamond…”

Diamond quickly ran towards her, waving. Platinum also ran up to him excitedly.

“It’s been a long while,” he said with a smile.

When he got close, Platinum suddenly hugged him. Diamond nervously put a hand on her back, wondering whether he was dreaming. He noticed that Platinum seemed to be trembling. He pulled back slightly, and noticed that the heiress was crying.

“I – I thought I lost you…” she sobbed out. “I missed you so much…”

“It’s okay, Lady. I’m here now,” Diamond said as he gently rubbed Platinum’s back. He couldn’t help but notice how much the heiress had changed since the last time he saw her. He never saw her cry before… He had seen her devastated and struck speechless a few times, but she never cried… “But what do you mean?”

“You… you did not answer any of my calls… I thought you were… ignoring me…”

“No, of course not! I just wanted to surprise you! I’ll explain everything.”

Platinum nodded and wiped away her tears as Diamond began to explain what happened the past four days. Her expression lightened after each of his sentences and once he finished explaining, hugged him once more.

“I should never have doubted you,” she said with a smile.

Her expression lightened even more when her Pokédex started to resonate. Diamond took his Pokédex out and looked behind him. He could see Pearl running closer. For the sake of surprise, Pearl stayed far away out of the Pokédex resonation range and let Diamond get to Platinum first. And now, seeing how neither Diamond nor Platinum was looking for him, he decided to interrupt his friends’ reunion. He was already impatient because he and Diamond got _lost_ on the way from Viridian City to Pallet Town (took a wrong turn while trying to avoid the tall grass).

Platinum looked even happier. She quickly rose to her feet and ran to meet Pearl. Much to Diamond’s surprise, the heiress hugged Pearl too. The relaxed Dex Holder shook away the unfamiliar feeling and walked towards his two friends.

After catching up with her two friends, Platinum gave the two boys her notebook, containing complete information on all of her seniors. She intended on introducing her two friends to the rest of the Dex Holders in the morning, and she wanted her friends to know the basics about the others.

…

August 11, 7:30 am…

…

Platinum sat on the grass outside Red’s house and watched as Diamond and Pearl practiced a comedy act. The heiress had spent the night inside her senior’s house, but woke up early and left to stay with her friends. And now, after eating breakfast made by Diamond, Platinum wanted to spend more time with the two Sinnoh Dex Holders.

“Hey Miss Lady, would you like to see one of our new comedy acts?”

“Of course, Pearl,” Platinum replied with a bright smile.

“Well… it’s something completely different than all the acts we’ve been doing so far.”

“Then I am even more intrigued. Do go on.”

Pearl took out the Pokéball containing his Chatot and took a few steps away from Diamond. The relaxed Dex Holder turned away from Pearl and while crouching, pretended to search for something in his bag. Pearl approached him.

“Hello, I wish to register a complaint.”

…

Meanwhile, Blue woke up in the living room of Green’s house. She looked at the clock and groaned when she realized that she had overslept. She was supposed to wake up at 6:30 so she could prepare some events for the day, but it was too late now.

She sat up and noticed that no one else was awake either. The whole battle tournament and the events that followed had been tiring. She decided to let everyone else sleep and after getting ready for the day, quietly left the house. She wondered if the others in Red’s house were awake, so she headed over.

Outside Red’s house, Blue could see Platinum sitting on the grass, giggling as she watched two boys talking to each other. By the time the Kanto Dex Holder reached the heiress, the two boys had finished the act and bowed to the ‘audience’ briefly. Seeing her senior, Platinum quickly rose to her feet and gave a polite bow.

“Good morning, senior,” she said. “How was your sleep?”

“It was fine,” Blue replied. She noticed that her junior looked extremely happy. “Hey, who are these two?” she asked, looking at the two boys.

“Ah, my apologies. They are Diamond and Pearl,” Platinum replied.

“Oh, your two friends from Sinnoh!” Blue walked towards Diamond and Pearl and extended a hand. “I’m Blue, one of the Kanto Dex Holders. And I’ve heard so much about you two from Platinum.”

Diamond and Pearl shook her hand in turn. Blue smiled brightly, happy that all 13 Dex Holders have finally gathered.

…

Fortree City, Hoenn…

…

Winona looked down at her city from her Altaria. There was a festival in the city, and as even though it was early morning, there were lots of people flooding the streets. As a Gym Leader, Winona knew it was her responsibility to make sure nothing bad happens. Though patrolling the city from high in the sky allowed her to see everywhere, it also made her visible from everywhere. And on the ground, many small groups of people observed her every move while waiting for the orders from their main HQ in-

…

Violet City, Johto…

…

Another bunch of groups of people watched Falkner and his Skarmory high in the sky as the Gym Leader chased down a fleeing suspect. They too, were waiting for the orders from the main HQ. The group looked around and spotted other groups of people all in position. The moment the order came, they would all spring into action. The order was to be sent from the main HQ in-

…

Pallet Town, 8:30 am…

…

Diamond and Pearl stood in front of all the other Dex Holders and prepared for a comedy act. Platinum had introduced them to all of their seniors, and while the seniors ate breakfast, the two Sinnoh boys made efforts to get better acquainted with them. And during that process, Blue asked them to perform a comedy act. As a result, the two Sinnoh boys were going to perform the act they showed to Platinum an hour ago. The heiress only saw the rehearsal (or at least an incomplete version), and now she was going to see the full act. Pearl borrowed Blue’s Ditto, and had it transform into a birdcage and put his Chatot inside. The Chatot made an effort to remain perfectly motionless. Diamond and Pearl declared to his seniors what their roles were. Diamond was the pet store owner and Pearl was the customer.

Diamond crouched and began to pretend digging through his bag. Pearl approached from behind and began the act.

“Hello, I wish to register a complaint,” he said. “Hello, miss?” he said when he received no reply.

“What do you mean ‘miss’?” Diamond asked as he turned to face him.

Pearl stared at him for a second. “… Sorry, I have a cold. I wish to make a complaint!”

“We’re closing for lunch.”

“Never mind that, I wish to complain about this parrot that I purchased not half an hour ago from this very boutique.”

“Oh yes, the Chatot,” Diamond said, looking into the birdcage. “What’s wrong with it?”

“I’ll tell you what’s wrong with it,” Pearl said calmly. “It’s dead. That’s what wrong with it.”

“No, no, it’s resting.”

Pearl raised the birdcage (where his Chatot lay on the bottom of the cage, perfectly motionless) and looked into it. “Look buddy, I know a dead parrot when I see one, and I’m looking at one right now.”

“No, no, it’s not dead! It’s just resting! Remarkable bird, the Chatot. Beautiful plumage!”

“The plumage don’t enter into it. It’s stone dead.”

“No, no! It’s resting!”

“All right then,” Pearl said. “If it’s resting, I’ll wake it up!” He looked into the birdcage and started to yell. “Hello, parrot! Wake up! I’ve got a-”

Diamond quickly hit the cage, making the Chatot move. “There, it moved!”

Pearl looked at him. “No, it didn’t! That was you pushing the cage!”

“I did not!”

“Yes you did!” Pearl took his Chatot out and started to shake it slightly. “Wake up, parrot!” He tossed the Chatot into the air and watched it fall and land on a patch of grass (the Chatot moved slightly so that it wouldn’t hit the ground too hard). Pearl looked at Diamond. “Now that’s what I call a dead parrot.”

“No, it’s just stunned!” Diamond said.

“Stunned?”

“Yes, just as it was waking up! Chatots stun easily.”

“Look, buddy. I’ve had just about enough of this. That parrot is definitely deceased. And when I bought it not half an hour ago, you assured me that its total lack of movement was due to it being tired and shagged out after a long squawk.”

“It’s uh… it’s probably pining for the fjords!”

“Pining for the fjords?” Pearl exclaimed. “What kind of talk is that? Look, why did it fall flat on its back the moment I got it home?”

“The Chatot prefers keeping on its back! Remarkable bird, isn’t it? Lovely plumage!”

“… Look, I took the liberty of examining that parrot, and I discovered that the only reason that it had been sitting on its perch in the first place was that it had been _nailed_ there.”

“Well, of course it was nailed there. Otherwise, it would have muscled up to those bars, bend them apart with its beak and VOOM!”

“… Look, buddy,” Pearl said as he picked up his Chatot. “This parrot wouldn’t ‘VOOM’ if I put four thousand volts through it! It’s freaking demised!”

“It’s not! It’s… it’s pining!”

“It’s not pining, it’s passed on!” Pearl yelled. “This parrot is no more! It has ceased to be! It’s expired and gone to meet its maker! This is a late parrot! It’s a stiff! Bereft of life, it rests in peace! If you hadn’t nailed it to the perch, it would be pushing up the daisies! Its metabolic processes are history! It’s off the twig! It has kicked the bucket; it has shuffled off its mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the choir invisible! This is an EX-PARROT!”

“… Well, I’d better replace it then.” Diamond pretended to take a look around. “Sorry, but we’re right out of parrots.”

“I see. I get the picture,” Pearl said with a sigh.

“… I have a Gastrodon,” Diamond said.

“… Does it talk?”

“… Not really, no.”

“Well it’s scarcely a replacement then, is it?”

“N – No, I guess not,” Diamond replied, looking down in shame. “Look, if you go to my brother’s pet shop in Pallet, he’ll replace your parrot for you.”

“Pallet, huh?” Pearl muttered. “All right then.” He turned around and took several steps away. Diamond took off his hat (as a way to say that he’s a different person now) and waited. Pearl came back, pretending to look around. “Excuse me,” he said. “This is Pallet, right?” he asked.

“No, no. This is Viridian.”

Pearl sighed. “Stupid bus…” He then turned around and walked away again. He soon turned around and walked back. He stood in front of Diamond and glared at him. “I understand that this _is_ Pallet.”

“Yeah,” Diamond said.

“But you told me it was Viridian.”

“… It was a pun,” Diamond said after a moment of thought.

“A pun?” Pearl exclaimed.

“No, no. Not a pun. What’s the other thing that reads the same backwards as forwards?”

“… A palindrome?”

“Yeah, yeah.”

“It’s not a palindrome! The palindrome of Pallet would be Tellap! It don’t work!”

“… What do you want?” Diamond asked.

“No, I’m sorry! I’m not prepared to pursue my line of inquiries any further. It’s getting too silly!”

“Well… Do you want to come back to my place?” Diamond suggested.

“… Yeah, all right. Sure.”

Diamond and Pearl bowed to the audience, and the Chatot did as well, mimicking its trainer. Most of the other Dex Holders clapped. Many were busy laughing, but some… didn’t react at all to the act. The laughs ranged from a simple giggle or chuckle to complete rolling on the ground, laughing like crazy. Diamond and Pearl glanced at each other before they looked at Platinum. The heiress was also laughing and looked very pleased. The two Sinnoh boys seemed to have made a good first impression.

…

Meanwhile…

…

D: Our assault groups are in place. Squads 1 to 50 are in Violet City, 51 to 100 are in Fortree City. Squads 101 to 125 are scattered around Fortree City, awaiting orders.

L: Very good. We seem to have gotten a lot more volunteers than we thought we would. Good. They’ll come useful, unlike your hand-picked scouts.

D: Uh…

L: How long did they last? 5 seconds?

D: 7 seconds, actually.

L: … Whatever. I told you to order your scouts to _look_ for opportunities, but apparently that wasn’t clear enough. … Tell them to return to HQ. They’ll be put into the torture room.

D: The torture room?

L: Don’t worry. It’s just a name. Anyways, commence Operation: UPPERCUT.

D: Could you tell us what it is? Some of our members are really curious.

L: Describe Sky Uppercut.

D: It’s a Fighting type move, uh… it’s a punch, and…

L: It hits targets in the air. Operation: UPPERCUT will allow us to take complete control over the sky. Gaining complete control over the sky will let us get from place to place easily while our enemies cannot.

D: Ah, brilliant sir.

L: And the first step of gaining dominance in the sky is taking out Gym Leaders who specialize in Flying types.

D: Of course.

L: Have squads 1 to 30 ambush and take Falkner of Violet City. Have squads 31 to 50 keep watch. Their job is to attack anyone who tries to help him. But Falkner isn’t all that important. Even if he escapes, he won’t be much of a threat to us. Our main focus in on Winona and Fortree City. She’s the supervisor of all Gym Leaders of Hoenn. If we take her out, the rest of the Gym Leaders will be in disarray long enough for us to completely take over Hoenn. However, if she escapes our attack, then they will not be in much confusion. Squads 51 to 90 will attack Winona from all sides. Squads 91 to 100 will keep watch and attack anyone who tries to help her. Squads 101 to 125 will keep guard all around the city and prevent Winona from escaping.

D: Understood, sir.

L: Remember, the main objective for squads 51 to 125 will be to capture Winona. If capture seems impossible, then kill her. With her captured or dead, the entire city will fall. Once we have complete control over Fortree, we’ll advance and take other cities one at a time. Luckily, all the Dex Holders are gathered in Pallet Town and are too busy _playing_ to notice anything. It’s also a good thing that Fortree City has a festival going on right now. No one will see our attacks coming. Like a whisper in a storm, no one will know of us until it’s too late.

D: Yes. Luck is on our side.

L: But don’t get careless. Constantly recruit more and more members and have all recruits go through 24 hours of rigorous training.

D: Who’s going to do the training?

L: Squads 126 to 128 will train recruits. Squad 129 will go out and capture all sorts of Pokémon for our use. Squad 130 will train the captured Pokémon a little before the trained recruits can train with them. You see, without the training, all of our members will end up like your two scouts.

D: About our scouts…

L: They lasted _seven_ seconds against two girls who aren’t even the strongest of the Dex Holders. And they didn’t even use their strongest Pokémon!

D: But they were just scouts! Our assault teams would do much, much better! I know for sure.

* * *

**Note:** **I was asked to put in the Dead Parrot Sketch for Diamond and Pearl’s comedy act. I have looked it up, and complied in this chapter.**

* * *

What Could Have Been (1 of 2):

“Oh, this sucks!” Sapphire yelled once she tasted the side-dish Platinum prepared. “Who made this?” The heiress carefully raised her hand and the Hoenn Dex Holder instantly glared at her.

Sapphire was about to say something when Ruby stopped her. “Sapphire, calm down,” he said quietly. “She tried her best.”

Sapphire realized how harsh she was about to be and quickly calmed down. “Well, I guess this was your first time, right, rookie?” she asked, trying to lighten the mood.

“Yes…” Platinum replied quietly with a guilty look.

Blue and Crystal glared at Sapphire. They had tried so hard to prevent the heiress from getting discouraged… Platinum looked at the expression of all of her seniors. Silver (who was looking in her direction absent-mindedly) appeared to be glaring at her and all of her other seniors (who were talking amongst themselves) seemed to be purposely ignoring her.

Platinum faked a smile and did her best to avoid eye contact with everyone. She had made another mistake… she couldn’t afford to make any more.

After dinner, the heiress quietly sat on the couch in the living room with her Pokégear out. She was looking at her seniors, but whenever someone looked in her direction, she quickly pretended to be looking into her Pokégear. Blue, Yellow, and Crystal have tried to talk to her, but the heiress ensured her seniors that absolutely nothing was wrong.

Once everyone was asleep a few hours later, Platinum made her decision. She had been pretending to be asleep until all of her seniors were asleep, and now that she was the only one awake, she carefully rose to her feet. She neatly folded the blankets she was given for the night and placed a short letter on the pillow. She had written that letter before she pretended to be asleep when her seniors were getting ready for the night. The letter read as follows:

_Dear seniors…_

_First, I must thank you for all the important lessons you have taught me. I have learned many valuable things and I will not forget them. However, if there is one lesson I have learned that I will not be able to forget is that I am not likeable. This lesson was made clear to me from all the glares and disapproving looks I have received in the past few days._

_More I think, more I know that it is true. That is why Diamond and Pearl, my two friends, have not answered any of my calls. They were not my friends._

_However, I must point out that it is my fault that I am hated by everyone. I have made too many mistakes. I believed that I would not make any more mistakes since senior Red’s birthday, yet I made more mistakes and caused more of my seniors to hate me. I am truly sorry for the discomfort I have caused you, seniors. It will not happen again. And to make sure that I do not bother you from now on, I shall return home._

_Good bye, seniors. I wish you the best of luck and best of health for the future._

_Sincerely, Platinum Berlitz._

Platinum quietly put her boots on and after ensuring that she had everything, left the house. She was going to go back home… She sent her Rapidash and gently climbed on.

“We should go…” the heiress said quietly. “It is clear that I am not wanted here…”

Tears began welling in her eyes as she remembered the contents of the letter she left. She wiped away the tears and sighed. She decided that she would visit Diamond and Pearl in Sinnoh and apologize to them as well. Afterwards, she would remain in her mansion forever…

But near Route 1, she saw something very surprising. She could see Diamond and Pearl running towards her…

…

(2 of 2)

…

“Seniors, I wish to introduce my two friends, Diamond and Pearl,” Platinum said happily, indicating the two boys behind her.

Sapphire saw the two boys and noticed something. “Hey, you’re that guy who thought this region was too hot!”

Pearl looked surprised. “You’re that weird girl who thought this hot region was cool!”

“Pearl, please be more respectful,” Platinum said to him quietly and quickly. “I apologize, senior,” she said to Sapphire with a bow. “But I wish that you would watch my two friends perform a comedy act.”

“Sure, why not?” Blue said. “I’ve heard a lot about your comedy acts, so let’s see them!”

Diamond and Pearl nodded.

“Speaking of Pokémon!” Pearl yelled out.

“Speaking of Pokémon~!”

“We’ve been given these things called the Pokédex, haven’t we?”

“Yes we have.”

“And apparently we’re not the only ones with them.”

“Yes. There are 10 others who got the Pokédex way before we did.”

“And we are juniors to them. To us, they are our seniors.”

“Seniors, eh?” Diamond quickly pretended to be a senior citizen, faking wrinkles and pretending to be standing with the aid of a staff.

Pearl quickly smacked Diamond on the back of the head. “I didn’t mean that senior! Sure, they’re old, but they’re not that old!”

Blue glared at them as she rose to her feet. “Old?”

Diamond and Pearl glanced at each other.

“Uh oh…” Pearl muttered. “Dia, run for it!” he yelled as he bolted away.

Diamond hesitated for a second before he ran for his life as well, leaving Platinum behind to try to calm the few fuming Dex Holders…


	8. Operation: UPPERCUT

Chapter 8: Operation: UPPERCUT

9:00 am, Violet City, Johto…

Falkner patrolled around Violet City, feeling great after successfully arresting a criminal. The criminal had been attacking random citizens, armed with a piece of fresh fruit (a banana). The madman was arrested and sent to a mental institute, and the streets of Violet City were now safe from crazed fruit-wielding men.

Suddenly, a Golbat appeared right in front of him, nearly knocking him off of his Skarmory. Even as Falkner was regaining balance, 14 more Golbats appeared, completely surrounding him. Realizing that the Golbats were not friendly, the Gym Leader sent out his entire team. The Golbats started to attack.

The 30 attacking ShadowNet grunt squads watched from below as some of their Golbats attacked. Realizing that the attacks weren’t doing anything to Falkner’s Skarmory, they changed tactics and ordered the Golbats to attack the trainer. At the same time, the squads sent out anti-air Pokémon to deal with Falkner’s Pokémon.

The Gym Leader repelled a pair of Golbats with his transparent discarded Skarmory wing and watched in horror as the rest of his Pokémon were slowly shot down with waves of Ice Shard and Rock Blasts. Falkner returned his Pokémon and tapped his Skarmory.

“You’re all that’s left,” he said quietly. “I think it’s time we use a little technique we learned from a senior Flying type user.”

He looked down where he could see the attackers. There were lots of them, and they had 2 to 3 Pokémon with them. The Pokémon ranged from Sneasels and Weaviles to Corsolas and Rhydons. The Skarmory jerked to the side as it avoided a Stone Edge from a pair of Rhydons.

“Go, now!” Falkner yelled. “Aerial Ace!”

The Skarmory flew in circles at a moderate speed, dodging several more incoming attacks. The Golbats traced the movements and charged, but in a blink of an eye, the Skarmory had rammed into them, knocking them out of the air. It then started to spin really fast, using Drill Peck to plow through another group of Golbats.

But then, the Skarmory started to take hits from Thunderbolt and Flamethrower. Falkner looked down. He could see even _more_ Pokémon all looking up at him, occasionally attacking. The new batch included Houndooms and Magnetons and other Pokémon with superior type advantage against Skarmory.

Falkner had his Skarmory fly higher into the sky to avoid any other incoming attacks. From higher up, he looked down at his city. He could see that his Gym had been destroyed, along with the police station, Pokémon Center, and several other buildings including Earl’s Academy.

“My city…” he muttered. “… I… I need to tell the other Gym Leaders…” Just as he was about to order his Skarmory to fly away from the city and the hordes of attackers, the Skarmory was hit by a Focus Blast and started to plummet. ‘ _That’s it then… it’s over…_ ’ Falkner thought.

He closed his eyes and braced for impact, but before he hit the ground, he stopped. His Skarmory had stopped midair as well. The pack of ShadowNet grunt squads all looked shocked. Falkner too, was surprised. After returning his Skarmory, he looked around and saw Morty near the west exit of Violet City, with his Gengar and Mismagius out. The Ecruteak Gym Leader had saved him and his Skarmory with Mismagius’s Psychic. Morty quickly had his Mismagius pull Falkner out of danger while his Gengar attacked the leading Golbats with a trio of Shadow Balls.

“How…” Falkner started as he landed on the ground beside Morty.

“I sensed something terrible was going to happen and I thought I could be of some help.”

But then, the 20 squads of ShadowNet grunts with the support role suddenly attacked from behind, surrounding the two Gym Leaders. Morty looked around, and seeing no alternate options, sent out his entire team to fight.

Not too far away in Route 36, a girl (around 15 years old) walked by the road to Violet City with an Espeon following closely. She had long black hair and deep red eyes, and wore a white shirt and black shorts. Hearing the commotion in Violet City, she looked to the east and into the city. She could see a huge group of people and Pokémon circling around two people and a small group of Ghost type Pokémon.

The girl took out a book (tour guide for Johto) and scanned through. She recognized the two people from somewhere and soon found their information in the book. Realizing that the two were Gym Leaders, the girl rushed to assist.

Falkner looked towards Route 36 when several Golbats dropped out of the air from that direction. He could see a girl and an Espeon, with the Psychic type Pokémon blasting everything nearby with Psychic and Shadow Ball.

Morty took advantage of the momentary hesitation of the attacking horde and blasted a path to Route 36 with a series of Thunderbolts and Shadow Balls from his Gengar and Mismagius. The two Gym Leaders quickly ran through the hole in the enemy’s formation. But the enemy started to chase them. The girl had her Espeon use Reflect and Light Screen to stall the attackers. Some of the ShadowNet grunts ordered Supersonic and Confuse Ray against the Espeon, but were shocked to see the Golbats becoming confused instead. A Magneton used Thunder Wave, but the Thunder Wave was reflected back.

The two Gym Leaders had run past the girl at this time.

“Thank you,” Falkner said as he stopped behind the girl.

“Why are you stopping? Keep running!” the girl urged.

“What about you?” Morty asked.

“Don’t worry about me. Just keep going!”

Falkner and Morty hesitantly jogged away, occasionally looking back at the girl. They only started to sprint away when the girl (who was distracted thanks to the two Gym Leaders) was hit with an Ice Punch from a Weavile that snuck around the Espeon’s Reflect and Light Screen. By the time the ShadowNet grunts broke through the Reflect and Light Screen, the two Gym Leaders had disappeared into the thick forests of Route 36.

The ShadowNet grunt squad leaders gathered around the center of Violet City after ensuring the total take-over of the city. The commander of the operation paced around a little, thinking of what to do.

“Okay… the two Gym Leaders escaped. Which means, the entire region of Johto would be on alert if we don’t hurry. Not only that, the Johto Gym Leaders could warn those in Kanto and that region would be on alert too,” the commander said with a sigh. “Which means, we’ll have to hurry with the next phases. Squads 1 to 5, head to Cherrygrove City and take it over. Destroy the Pokémon Center and any buildings where trainers may gather. Squads 6 through 25, head to Ecruteak City and do the same. The Gym Leader there would be weakened and we’ll be able to take over that city very easily. Squads 26 to 44, go to Azalea Town. Squad 45 will stay in the city and defend. The rest will head to Goldenrod City. Our regional HQ is over there so we’ll be able to receive backup. Then again, the Gym Leader of Goldenrod sucks, so we won’t have any problems at all.”

“What about this girl?” one of the squad leaders asked, pointing at the unconscious and tied up girl who had interfered with the operation.

“Take her to our main HQ. Find out who she is and why she was interfering with our work.”

…

Fortree City, Hoenn…

…

Winona blinked rapidly to fight the oncoming sleepiness. She had been patrolling the skies of her city since 5 in the morning, when the festival was getting ready to start. And since the start of the festival, absolutely nothing worth noting had occurred.

She raised her goggles and rubbed her eyes. She was so tired… Even though she was flying on her Altaria very slowly, the slight wind was enough to irritate her eyes, forcing her to close them. And knowing that she’d end up falling asleep if she had her eyes closed, she had no choice but to put her flight goggles on to block the wind.

‘ _Maybe I should get Wallace to patrol the city for me while I go rest,_ ’ Winona thought. ‘ _He’s not doing anything nowadays…_ ’ She shook her head. ‘ _No… he’ll think that I’m not good enough at my duty._ ’

As Winona forced herself to focus (focus on… _something_ ), her Altaria was suddenly struck by Ice Shard. The Fortree Gym Leader snapped into focus and scanned below.

‘ _What was that? Was it an accidental misfire?_ ’

She noticed several Pokémon soaring straight towards her. Within a blink of an eye, she found herself surrounded by Aerodactyls and Magnezones, with Weaviles riding on top of some of them. Suddenly, the entire city seemed to turn blue and yellow as the 40 ShadowNet grunt squads had all their Pokémon use Ice Beam and Thunderbolt on Winona and her Altaria. The Pokémon on the ground continuously attacked, forcing the Gym Leader to focus on evading rather than attacking back. As a result, Winona was unable to send out any more Pokémon.

The Fortree Gym Leader clenched her teeth and ordered her Altaria to use Aerial Ace. With confounding speed, the Altaria managed to dodge a lot of the attacks (and swat some attacking Pokémon out of the way), but still got hit by a few Ice Beams. Winona grunted as her Altaria started to plummet. She noticed that her Altaria’s wings have been frozen solid, so she jumped off of it and quickly returned it to its Pokéball.

The Aerodactyls and Magnezones also dropped, tracking her movement. The Weaviles riding on the Aerodactyls attempted a few Ice Shards, but because Winona was in freefall, the attacks didn’t hit. The Gym Leader was used to freefall, since she was constantly skydiving (or orbital drop as Wallace would’ve called it). As a result, she was able to dodge the incoming attacks.

After staying in freefall for a few seconds, Winona sent her Altaria out again. The Humming Pokémon had already been cured of its frozen wings thanks to its ability Natural Cure. The Altaria caught its trainer and steadily soared back up high to avoid the attackers on the ground. If it managed to reach high enough, the Altaria would become invisible in the clouds. But the moment the Humming Pokémon caught Winona and stopped the rapid descent, one of the Weaviles jumped off of an Aerodactyl and landed on the Altaria.

The Weavile aimed an Ice Punch directly at Winona’s face, but the Gym Leader blocked with her arms. She winced in pain as she felt as if her right forearm had been shattered. The arm wasn’t broken, but it was causing severe pain. While she used her left hand to try to push the Weavile off, she could see a few Aerodactyls coming from straight ahead. The Weavile attempted a Night Slash, which hit the Gym Leader on the shoulder.

“Agh… Altaria! Dragon Pulse!” Winona ordered.

The Altaria did as told, and the Aerodactyls moved away to avoid the attack, thus clearing a path. The Weavile grabbed hold of the Altaria to avoid falling off and aimed another Ice Punch, this time aimed at Winona’s heart. The Gym Leader did not see the attack coming and gasped when the Ice Punch hit. She slumped forward as the Weavile moved around her, grabbing her hair to stay on. Winona grunted as she tried to remain conscious.

“Altaria… ungh… Aerial Ace…” she ordered faintly. “And try… to get to… Sootopolis…”

The Altaria couldn’t use Aerial Ace, however, as it was too worried about its trainer. If it were to use Aerial Ace, Winona would surely fall off. Taking advantage of its hesitation, the Weavile hit Winona in the back with another Ice Punch and pushed her off of the Altaria. It then prepared to attack the Humming Pokémon itself. The Altaria started to spin rapidly in an attempt to throw the Weavile off. The Weavile eventually fell off and the Altaria dove straight down in an attempt to get its trainer who was plummeting to the ground. Winona was still barely conscious and instinctively spread her arms and legs to maximize drag.

Several Aerodactyls were moving to get Winona as well, and the Altaria tried to get them away with more Dragon Pulse and a few Ice Beams.

The ShadowNet commander could see Winona plummeting and the speed of the Altaria and Aerodactyls. He could see that the Gym Leader’s Altaria would be able to save its trainer, and decided that Plan B would be the better choice. Capturing seemed a little difficult with the Humming Pokémon fighting that furiously. Instead of ordering the Aerodactyls to try to catch the falling Gym Leader, he ordered one of the grunts on the ground to try to prevent the Altaria from catching its trainer.

The Altaria was too focused in trying to get to its trainer that it didn’t see the Staraptor attempting a Double Edge against it. The Staraptor hit and forced the Altaria off its course. The Humming Pokémon looked in horror as its trainer disappeared from its view as she plummeted into the forest that covered majority of Fortree City. The Altaria shut its eyes and flew straight into the clouds. It had been given its last orders from its trainer… it had to get to Sootopolis City…

The ShadowNet grunts soon lost track of Altaria when it vanished into the clouds. The grunts were preoccupied in looking at where Winona fell, and momentarily forgot all about the Altaria, allowing it to escape.

The ShadowNet commander gathered all the squad leaders to issue further commands.

“All right, listen up. Squad 125, look around the forests and see if you can find Winona. We know she’s dead, but having confirmation would be great. If you can’t find her body, then don’t worry about it. Squads 51 to 75, go to Mauville City and take it over. The city has our regional HQ, so it wouldn’t be too difficult. Squads 76 to 90, go to Lilycove City and take that over. There are no threats in that city, so it should be very easy. Make sure nothing comes in through the harbor, and prepare to attack Mossdeep City. Squads 91 to 95, stay in this city and make sure no one comes in or out. Everyone else, we’re going to Sootopolis City and launch an aerial invasion. So everyone, take 6 Pokémon that can attack from the air.”

“Commander, we just got here. Can’t we rest a little?” one of the squad leaders asked.

“If you want to give the enemy time to prepare, sure. If you don’t, then attack quickly. We will attack when they’re not prepared, and advance when they least expect it. Like a fast thunder, we’ll catch them off guard and win before they even know what happened,” the commander replied. “Now, squads 80 to 90, when you get to Lilycove City, wait until I give the order. Then, attack Mossdeep City with everything. After taking over Sootopolis, we will attack Mossdeep too.”

…

9:30 am, Azalea Town…

…

As the ShadowNet aerial assault groups attacked the town and destroyed the Pokémon Center and the Gym, they received absolutely no resistance at all. Unfortunately for the people of Azalea, Bugsy had left on a trip to the Viridian Forest to study the Bug Pokémon there.

Some people of the town tried to call Prof. Elm, under the thought that the professor would know of people who could help. However, the ShadowNet assault teams within Goldenrod City had already taken over the communication tower in the heart of the city, effectively stopping any and all methods of communication within Johto.

In Goldenrod City, though Whitney was at her Gym, she proved to be no match for the small group of ShadowNet grunts who were attacking the city. The Gym Leader eventually had to flee the city when more ShadowNet grunts appeared from their regional-HQ which was situated near the Gym.

The ShadowNet grunts attacking Ecruteak City also noticed the lack of resistance. It seemed that Morty and Falkner did not come to Ecruteak when Violet City fell. With sighs of relief, the ShadowNet grunts began the attack on the city, destroying the Pokémon Center, the Gym, and even the entrance to the Tin Tower.

By 9:45 am, the ShadowNet grunts have completely taken Ecruteak City, and awaited further orders. Thus, within 45 minutes of commencing the operation, the Johto branch of ShadowNet had successfully taken over central Johto.

The next targets were Mahogany Town, Olivine City, and New Bark Town…

…

Meanwhile…

…

L: Good. Our assault teams have successfully taken over Violet City and Fortree City. And I hear that we also have Cherrygrove City as well. Though Falkner escaped, Winona is dead. The Gym Leaders of Hoenn will be in disarray long enough for us to completely take that region. … Winona _is_ dead, right?

D: Our assault teams did not find her body, though they did find what’s left of her helmet. Seeing how there’s quite a bit of blood on the helmet, it’s safe to assume that she’s dead.

L: Very good. Before long, the Hoenn Gym Leaders are going to have a meeting, and we’ll use that helmet to force some of them to surrender. If they believe that we have Winona captive, they would not resist too much.

D: Brilliant, sir.

L: Our next objectives are to take out the regions’ champions. They are the biggest threat to us now. Have all our new recruits head over to Celestic Town once they finish training. Have them destroy the town. The champion of that region will appear. Then, with the waiting assault squads, attack. Several of our assault squads in Hoenn are attempting an attack on Sootopolis. If all goes well, we’ll get both Wallace and Steven in one fell swoop. The Johto assault squads will search for Lance after securing the region. Leave the region of Kanto alone for now. All the Dex Holders are still there. We’ll wait for them to separate before we strike at them. Taking out the Dex Holders one at a time would be best, but two at a time works too. Leave them alone if more than two are in the same place.

D: But… they’re just kids!

L: Haven’t you read anything about them? A trio of Dex Holders was always enough to save a region _and_ destroy an evil team. Hell, in Hoenn, a _pair_ of Dex Holders did that. And now, they’re even stronger. So don’t underestimate them.

D: Yes sir.

L: When the time comes, we’ll have the means of dealing with them. In that regard, how’s the research project 05-032 coming along?

D: It is going well sir. We have yet to test it though. But in theory, it should work perfectly.

L: In that case, use that prisoner we got during our operation on Violet City. After she goes through the torture room, of course.

D: About the torture room… the two failed scouts are crippled now. I thought it was just a name…

L: What I meant was that the torture room is actually a chamber. Anyways, if the scouts are crippled, then use them for the 05-032 project too.

* * *

**While HGSS games list the tower as “Bell Tower”, I will continue referring to it as “Tin Tower”.**

* * *

What Could Have Been:

An old couple stood in the corner of their house as they watched the wreckage in the center of their living room. It was as if something fell from the sky and hit their house.

Afraid that it might be some hostile Pokémon, the old man grabbed a broom, and with the handle pointed ahead, carefully approached the wreckage. The old man began to push chunks of the ceiling out of the pile of smashed wood, and soon found something. The old man quickly pushed away the remnants of the ceiling (and roof) until he uncovered what was underneath.

A young woman, actually. The woman had long lavender hair and was wearing a white shirt, a blue vest, and white pants. She also had half of a helmet on, which was oddly bent and was covered in blood. The woman herself was badly bleeding from various wounds and a huge one caused by a thick branch that had stabbed into her shoulder.

The old man quickly dragged the woman out of the wreckage. The woman wasn’t moving or breathing at all. Her face was nearly covered in blood by a gash on the side of her head. The old man quickly removed the remains of the helmet while the old lady wiped away some of the blood from the young woman’s face with a paper towel. The old man shook the woman by her unwounded shoulder, and receiving no response, checked her pulse…


	9. To the Hunt

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Diamond will not have Regigigas in my stories, under the assumption that he would have released after the events of the Platinum arc.

Chapter 9: To the Hunt

9:30 am, Pallet Town…

Completely unaware of the fate Azalea Town was suffering, or the fate that would befall on Ecruteak City in 15 minutes, the Dex Holders were still enjoying the day at the beach. Ruby and Sapphire had managed to throw Emerald into the water. Ruby laughed as his fellow Hoenn Dex Holder flailed around in the water when Sapphire betrayed him and threw him into the water as well.

Platinum watched her three Hoenn seniors before she approached Crystal, who was sitting in the shade, lost in thought. No one was near her at the moment, so the heiress was free to ask the question she wanted to ask for quite some time.

“Senior Crystal, may I ask you a question?” the heiress asked.

Crystal snapped out of her thoughts and looked at her junior. “Sure.”

“I have wanted to ask this question for some time… Do you know the contents of the memory storage device I brought from Sinnoh?” Platinum asked. “You did not seem surprised in any way when Professor Oak found the storage device in the map Professor Rowan had issued to me.”

Crystal started to hesitate. “Well… um… I know of it, but… … Sorry, I’m not allowed to tell you.”

“Oh… I understand,” Platinum said. To her credit, she didn’t sound or look disappointed at all.

“But when I’m allowed to tell people, you’ll be the first.”

“Hey Crys, come here for a second,” came Blue’s voice from behind. “You too, Platinum.”

The two girls quickly jogged towards their senior, wondering why the Kanto Dex Holder called for them. Beside the Kanto Dex Holder was Gold, who was grinning. Crystal prepared herself. Gold grinning was never a good sign.

“Platinum, you’re going to start your journey around Kanto after lunch, right?” Blue asked. The heiress nodded. “And Gold and Crys were supposed to go with you. But right now, Dia and Pearl are also here, and I assume you want to travel with them, right?”

“Yes, senior,” Platinum replied. She looked at Diamond and Pearl who were approaching.

“In that case, how would you like to travel with all four?” Blue asked. “That way, you’d be able to travel with your friends and your seniors at the same time. A group of five seems a little big, but I don’t see that much of a problem.”

Platinum gladly accepted. “I would be honored to have the opportunity to travel with my seniors, and I am glad to be able to travel with my friends at the same time.”

“That’s great then!” Blue exclaimed. “In that case, Crys, you remember the results of the game we played, right?”

Crystal glared at Gold. ‘ _You better not have said anything, you jerk…_ ’

“Starting right now, I order you to become Gold’s… _slave_ , I guess, until Platinum obtains all 8 Kanto Gym Badges!”

Gold burst into laughter while Crystal stared at her senior in disbelief.

“… You’re joking, right?”

Blue grinned. “You’ll have to do whatever Gold tells you to, and if you disobey his orders, then… I’ll have to do something about that, won’t I?”

“But… come on! That’s just… no!”

“Don’t worry, Crys. I won’t abuse the power too much,” Gold said from beside.

Crystal took a step as if she was going to kick the goggled boy in the head, but Gold already had his billiard cue out, ready to block.

“Why you…”

“My first order to you is… Don’t kick me. Ever,” Gold said as he put his billiard cue away. “Second order is… Get me a glass of water. Oh, this is going to be _so_ much fun!”

Crystal sighed. “Seriously Gold… you _will_ be the death of me…”

“Aw, don’t say that, Crys. You know I won’t hurt you.”

As the girl walked away to get Gold a glass of water, Green approached Blue.

“You’re going back to the Sevii Islands,” he said as he stood beside her. Blue couldn’t tell whether it was a question, a statement, or an order. Sounded like an order, though…

“If you order me so,” Blue said with a fake sigh. She turned to face Green with a smile. “I’m just kidding. But yeah, I’m going back home after lunch. Why?”

“My grandfather wants me to show you something before you go,” Green replied. “He would have told me to do so sooner, but he kept forgetting.”

The Gym Leader turned and started to walk away. Blue quickly followed. She asked where he was taking her, but he didn’t reply. After a few minutes of walking in silence, Green stopped in some neighborhood. Blue looked at the surrounding houses and noticed something.

“Seem familiar?” Green asked. Blue didn’t reply, as she was at a loss for words. She silently approached one particular house. Green looked at the house and the address. “According to my grandfather, that house is where you lived before Pryce had Ho-oh kidnap you.”

Blue looked at her old house and front lawn, remembering some of the happy moments in her life before everything went wrong. Green slowly started to walk back, trying to leave Blue alone with her nostalgic memories.

“Wait…” the girl said silently. Green stopped and turned to look at her. “… Don’t go…”

The Gym Leader put his hands in his pockets and waited. Blue put her hands over her heart and took a deep breath. Even the air felt nostalgic…

“Thanks Green,” she said a few seconds later as she turned to face him.

“For what?”

“This wasn’t Professor Oak’s idea, was it?”

“… Does it matter?”

“It does.” Blue smiled warmly at him. “Thanks again.”

“Whatever.”

Green turned and walked away, and Blue followed after memorizing the address and location of her old house.

Back at the beach, Platinum sat beside Diamond and Pearl with her feet in the water. Diamond was sitting right beside her and Pearl was beside him. Diamond chose to believe that it was not a random coincidence that the heiress had chosen to sit beside him (and not Pearl).

As the three Sinnoh Dex Holders talked, Sapphire came and sat beside Platinum. The Hoenn Dex Holder put her feet into the water as well.

“Ah, senior Sapphire,” Platinum started as she looked at her senior. “How did you like Diamond and Pearl’s comedy act?”

“It was really funny,” Sapphire replied. “But hey, rookie, you seem really happy today. You looked a little sad yesterday. You must’ve really missed your friends, huh?”

“Yes, senior,” Platinum replied. She smiled at her two friends sitting beside her. “To be completely honest, I did feel lonely and rejected…”

Sapphire patted her junior on the back. “Well… you won’t feel rejected now, would you? I mean… all you got to do is spend more time with your seniors…”

Without warning, Sapphire pushed Platinum into the water. The water was deep enough to reach up to the heiress’s neck, and as a result, she was completely soaked. Sapphire was laughing while Platinum was trying to get over the shock of entering the cold water.

“How’s the water, rookie?” Sapphire asked.

Platinum smiled before she dived underwater for a few seconds. After resurfacing, she wiped away the water on her face and looked at her senior.

“It is very cool.” The heiress approached her senior. “You should experience it too, senior!” she yelled as she grabbed her senior’s feet and dragged her into the water as well.

Sapphire quickly resurfaced and wiped away the water from her face. She looked at her junior playfully. “Oh, you are going down!”

Platinum let out a playful laugh as her senior tried to chase her. Diamond and Pearl watched the heiress for a few seconds before they glanced at each other. The two Sinnoh boys removed their scarves and jumped into the water.

While the Dex Holders played and enjoyed the peace, a ShadowNet grunt watched from a forest far away with binoculars, observing their movements. So far, the Dex Holders seemed to be completely unaware of the existence of ShadowNet…

…

10:00 am, Sootopolis City…

…

Wallace stood outside his/his master’s Gym, enjoying the view of the calm, relaxing lake that covered a huge portion of Sootopolis. The Gym Leader/champion considered in calling Winona. Wallace knew that she was probably stressed from having to deal with a festival in her city, so it would help her greatly to just hear someone tell her to relax. But unfortunately, Winona had warned him to not call her unless it was an emergency. The Fortree Gym Leader apparently didn’t want him to make any more attempts at trying to get her in a relationship.

Wallace decided to go visit Winona instead. He couldn’t call her unless it was an emergency, but apparently, the Fortree Gym Leader hadn’t banned visits. Wallace took his Pokégear and input the numbers that would bring his air car to him.

But before he could get into his air car, something exploded with a loud thud, causing the mini-island (where the Gym is located) to shake. Wallace quickly looked around, and spotted a horde of Aerodactyls and other Flying types flooding the skies. The flock began bombarding the city with Hyper Beams and other attacks. The first loud thud had been the opening attack from the leading Aerodactyl.

The door of the Gym opened and Juan appeared, who was wondering what the commotion was about.

“Master, they’re attacking the city!” Wallace said as he pointed at the huge flock of attacking Pokémon.

Juan looked at the invading Pokémon and sent out his Kingdra. Wallace sent out his entire team, and with his master, began to prioritize targets.

The leading ShadowNet grunts attacking the city were invited with a hail of Water Pulses. The grunts behind them ordered their Pokémon to spread out. The two Sootopolis Gym Leaders could see that a small portion of the Flying types had their owner riding on top. The targets of the Water Pulses were naturally the Pokémon carrying the people.

The ShadowNet commander noticed the difference in the invasion of Sootopolis compared to Fortree. There were several key differences. First, the assault group in Sootopolis was significantly smaller than in Fortree. Second, there was one Gym Leader, and she wasn’t the region’s champion. Third, the assault group in Fortree had Pokémon with type advantage against the Gym Leader’s main type, while the group in Sootopolis did not. And last, the Fortree Gym Leader was distracted, tired, and was attacked before she knew what was happening.

The should-have-been-expected-but-wasn’t-resistance made the ShadowNet commander think of a new tactic…

“Everyone, stand down!” he yelled at the top of his lungs. The grunts nearby heard the order and passed them on to the others.

Wallace and Juan watched as the attacking horde suddenly stopped and simply flew around in a circle around the Gym. One particular Pidgeot slowly came close and landed in front of the two Gym Leaders. Juan’s Kingdra eyed the Pidgeot and the surrounding Pokémon carefully. A man jumped off of the Pidgeot, carrying a plastic bag in hand.

“As to be expected from the Hoenn champion and his master,” he said as he applauded the two Gym Leaders.

“Who are you, and what do you want?” Wallace asked. His Sealeo and Seaking remained on guard, ready to blast anything that moved.

“Let’s just say that we’re a group called ShadowNet, and we want you and your master out of our way. There are many ways for you to do that, I’m sure. One method is for us to try to overpower you, or the other method is you simply leaving the region.”

Before Wallace could reply, the ShadowNet commander reached into the plastic bag and pulled out something and tossed it in front of the two Gym Leaders… The Hoenn champion soon fell into shock. He was looking at the shattered and bloodied half of Winona’s helmet…

“Master… is… is that what I think it is?”

“Stay calm, Wallace,” Juan said quietly so that only his disciple may hear. “You must not show your weakness here.” He stared at the ShadowNet commander. “If I recall, the young lady who owns that helmet was supposed to be watching over a festival today. How uncouth of you to ambush a distracted young woman in greater numbers.”

“Spare me the lectures, old man. All you need to know is that you have ten minutes to leave this city and a day to leave this region. If you don’t comply, then let’s just say that the owner of this helmet won’t nearly be as healthy as she is now.”

Juan glanced at Wallace and took notice of his expression. After a second, he withdrew his Kingdra. The Hoenn champion was in no condition to fight, as he was currently devastated. And as a result, his Pokémon would not be able to fight. Morale and momentum were very important in battles. And with Wallace and his Pokémon unable to help, Juan knew that he wouldn’t be able to fight as effectively.

“Very well then. We will leave,” he said calmly. “However, if you have any sense of honor and if you do not wish to see us again, you will let the young lady go.”

The ShadowNet commander smirked. “Of course.”

Juan approached his disciple’s air car. “Come, Wallace,” he said as he entered the driver’s seat.

The Hoenn champion, who was holding the bloodied helmet with trembling hands, glared at the ShadowNet commander for a second before he entered the passenger’s seat. He continued to glare at the commander until the air car moved far away from him.

“Master… shouldn’t we find out where they’re keeping Winona?” he asked as the air car left the boundaries of Sootopolis City. “We shouldn’t be running away like this…”

“We are not running away,” Juan replied. “You are in no condition to fight. You know that.” He looked at his disciple. “The last time the young lady was held hostage, you could not fight. Right now, you know that something bad had happened to her, and that she is in the hands of this ShadowNet. You will not be able to fight this time. Unless…”

Wallace looked at his master. He looked as if he was trying to make a hard decision.

“Unless what?”

Juan sighed. “I do believe that that ShadowNet fellow was bluffing. If he really did have the young lady hostage, then he would have shown her to us. Instead, he simply showed us her bloodied helmet. That means either she escaped, or… was killed.”

Wallace froze. “… Dead? … No… she can’t be…”

Juan was about to say something when he noticed an Altaria flying closer. He flew the air car down onto a small island in Route 124. Wallace wondered why his master was lowering the car when he saw the Altaria as well. Though the Humming Pokémon flew straight to Sootopolis from Fortree, by the time it got there, ShadowNet had already ‘convinced’ the two Gym Leaders to leave. So the Altaria followed the air car, as it had nowhere else to go. Seeing the Altaria by itself and seeing its expression, Wallace fell into shock once again.

“No… she’s really gone…”

The moment the air car landed, Wallace jumped out and looked at the Altaria a little closer. The Humming Pokémon kept its head down and looked as if it was going to cry at any moment. Juan saw the devastated look on his disciple and cleared his throat.

“A gentleman’s revenge is not late even if it takes 10 years. We will bide our time. If we remain quiet and unseen, this ShadowNet will become arrogant. And depending on what they hope to accomplish, there will be a time for us to figuratively remove the ladder when they are on the roof.”

Wallace didn’t reply and didn’t respond at all to his master. He simply stood there with a blank look. Juan took out his Pokégear and began to make calls. Though ShadowNet did take out the main communications tower in Lilycove City, they apparently didn’t know that the Hoenn Gym Leaders and the Pokémon Association had a secondary communications center (which only they could use) within New Mauville.

…

10:40 am, New Bark Town, Johto…

…

Professor Elm sat in front of the picture phone, wondering why it wasn’t working. He wanted to know how the research of the package from Sinnoh was going, but for some reason, he was unable to contact Professor Oak, or anyone else.

“Professor, something odd is happening,” youngster Joey said as he entered the room. “I can’t call anyone.”

“I have that problem too,” the professor replied. “I wonder if the radio and communication tower in Goldenrod City is experiencing a power failure.”

Just then, there was a loud thud from the outside which shook the entire lab. The professor quickly ran outside to see what the thud was about, and youngster Joey followed. Outside, the skies of New Bark Town were filled with all sorts of Flying types as ShadowNet bombarded the town with Hyper Beams and Air Cutters (occasional Air Slashes). Professor Elm reasoned that whoever the owners of the violent Pokémon were, they could not be on the good side. He reasoned that they were probably in New Bark to either take over the town or to steal his research notes. Either way, in order to prevent any data from falling into enemy hands, the professor ran back inside his lab to take all the important documents.

Youngster Joey volunteered to stall for the professor, but there was very little a boy and a Rattata could do against a horde of Flying types. At most, he could only have his Rattata try to hit the airborne targets with Quick Attack.

Just as ShadowNet began to feel the annoyance of the youngster, Professor Elm returned from his lab, and with the youngster, quickly ran east. The best hope the professor had of escaping the attackers was to get to Kanto…

…

ShadowNet Johto HQ, Goldenrod City…

…

“We have orders to test the research project 05-032 on this prisoner. Are the preparations complete?” the Johto commander asked.

“Yes commander,” replied the grunt from beside.

The commander looked into the giant glass cage, where the prisoner girl was. She was currently banging on the glass with her fist, demanding her release. The girl soon stopped and dropped onto the floor of the cage as she rubbed her sore fist. The door to the cage slowly opened and a ShadowNet grunt entered. The girl glared at him and forced herself to rise to her feet. But before she could, the grunt kicked her back down.

The grunt tried to put something on the girl’s face, but she kicked him in the knees to push him away. The grunt gritted his teeth and kicked the girl in the ribs.

The girl couldn’t see what happened next. All she knew was that the ShadowNet grunt had placed some kind of a heavy black piece of leather (or so it felt) on her face.

“You’re going to regret this when my brother finds out!” the girl yelled angrily.

“Where is he?” the grunt asked.

“Go screw yourself. I’ll never tell you.”

The ShadowNet commander pressed a button on the machine beside him. He looked into the glass cage observantly. A second later, the girl started to scream as she rolled on the floor, clawing at the black leather-like stuff on her face. The grunts watched with interest as the black leather-like stuff turned white and hardened. The girl stopped thrashing and was now lying on the floor motionless.

“Crap… is she dead?” the commander asked.

The grunt inside the cage checked. “No, she’s still breathing.”

“Oh very good then. Proceed with the test.”

The grunt inside the cage nodded and approached the girl. “Rise.” The girl suddenly rose to her feet, and the ShadowNet commander grinned at the success. “Now, tell me where your brother is.”

The girl remained silent for a second before she spoke. “Route 120… Hoenn… heading to… Lilycove City…” the girl muttered out. Her voice sounded unnatural…

“What’s his name?” the grunt asked.

Suddenly there was a spike in the status monitor and the girl twitched. The hardened white material on her face started to expand and stretched down to her hands. The bulk of the material moved off of her face and formed a lump between her neck and left shoulder. Her red eyes were blank but oddly eerie.

“What’s his name?” the grunt asked again.

With a growl that sent shivers down everyone’s spines, the girl suddenly attacked the grunt. The hardened white material had formed some kind of an exoskeleton on her arms, and the girl smashed them onto the grunt. With the sound of bone snapping, the grunt dropped.

“Oh, crap!” the commander yelled. “Hit the stabilizer!” he yelled to the grunt beside him. The grunt did as told and the girl stopped moving. But she twitched again and slammed her forearm into the glass, creating a large crack on the glass. “Why isn’t it working?!”

The commander tried shutting off all the machines, but it did nothing to stop the girl’s rampage. As a result, the commander had no choice but to send a team of grunts to forcefully hold the girl down. The girl immediately stopped thrashing when one of the grunts punched and shattered the lump near her neck.

“Whew…” one of the grunts muttered. He looked at the fallen grunt beside him. “He’s in a very bad shape…”

“Get him to the infirmary,” the commander ordered. “And get all the scientists and researchers who worked on this project to fix this thing as soon as possible. What the hell were they doing? The stabilizer doesn’t do crap!”

“What about the girl?” a grunt asked from beside.

“Lock her in a cage and see what happens when she wakes up.” The commander sighed. “And try to hunt down her brother. The girl gave us quite a trouble in Violet City. If her brother is stronger than her, and he ends up assisting those Dex Holders, we could be screwed. Contact the Hoenn branch and tell the Hoenn commander about this. He’ll know what to do.”


	10. Journey's End

Chapter 10: Journey’s End

12:00 pm, Lilycove City, Hoenn…

3 ShadowNet assault squads patrolled the city in the air while 7 squads searched the intact buildings. The Hoenn commander had received a message from the Johto commander, and had agreed to assign 10 squads the task of capturing the Johto prisoner’s brother. The task was… not easy. All the squads knew was that there was a guy around Lilycove who had a sister traveling around in Johto. They didn’t know whether the brother was older or younger than the prisoner girl, or anything about him. The squads didn’t know much of the girl either.

“So we’re looking for a brother of a girl who has black hair and red eyes, was traveling around in Johto, and has an Espeon…” one of the grunts muttered as he looked around the streets of Lilycove City.

“… That could be anyone,” another grunt muttered. “This is bullsh*t. We should be with the other assault teams in Mossdeep and other cities.”

“Actually, from what I heard, the other assault teams aren’t doing anything exciting either,” said the third grunt. “The assault teams in Mossdeep say that the city’s Gym Leaders weren’t there. The guys in Lavaridge and Mauville say the same. The news is out somehow… The Gym Leaders know that we’re coming. … Either that, or we’ve conveniently decided to strike at their cities when they were on vacation.”

A few blocks away, another squad of ShadowNet grunts entered the Lilycove Department Store, which had been left intact by the assault teams that swept the city shortly before. The Department Store had lots of supplies that ShadowNet needed, thus the commander had ordered the assault teams to leave the building alone.

Now, all the ‘refugees’ from the destroyed Pokémon Center and Contest Hall were gathered in the first floor, wondering what was happening. But it was chaotic in there, as everyone was panicking. The ShadowNet grunts seriously doubted that there would be anyone threatening in the building, but tried to do their jobs anyways.

The grunts searching the Lilycove Art Museum had much better luck. There were only 7 people inside, and they were all sitting quietly and looking at various paintings despite the whole ShadowNet invasion.

“Excuse me!” one ShadowNet grunt yelled loudly. “Can I have everyone’s attention?” But surprisingly, only two people turned to look in his direction. The other 5 didn’t even budge. “Hey!” the grunt yelled at them.

“Those people are deaf,” one of the two reacting people said. “They can’t hear you, so stop yelling.”

The ShadowNet grunt turned to look at his teammates. “… The guy we’re looking for… is it possible that he’s deaf?”

“I don’t know. We should find out if the one we’re looking for is one of them.”

The first grunt took a piece of paper and wrote a question on it. He then went to the 5 deaf people and showed them the question while the other grunts asked the two non-deaf people.

“Does anyone have a sister who’s traveling in Johto?”

The five deaf people all shook their heads in response to the written question and resumed looking at the artworks.

“No, I don’t,” said one of the other two people.

“Well… I do,” said the other.

The ShadowNet grunts looked at the person. He looked about 20 years old, so it was possible that he would have a sister about 15 years old.

“What’s your name?”

“Dave.”

“How old is your sister, Dave?”

“16 years old.”

“Long black hair and red eyes?” asked the grunt. “Has an Espeon?”

Dave nodded. The ShadowNet grunt was about to get his fellow grunts to take Dave down when he spoke. “Wait… no, not black hair and red eyes. She has red hair and black eyes. And she did have an Espeon until she traded it away to someone for a Magikarp…”

The ShadowNet grunts looked dumbfounded. “… Who the hell has red hair and black eyes? And who in their right mind would trade an Espeon away for a Magikarp?!”

Dave sighed. “She dyed her hair red. I don’t know why. And I don’t know why she traded away her Espeon when it’s been with her for 5 years. The Magikarp was yellow, but… that still doesn’t explain why she traded away a green Espeon. Don’t ask!”

The ShadowNet grunts looked at each other and shrugged. “This clearly isn’t the guy we’re looking for. The guy we’re looking for his probably a lot smarter.”

“Hey!” Dave yelled. “My sister, who I hope will remain healthy, is a moron. But that doesn’t mean I’m anything like her!”

“Whatever. Thanks for all your… help, sir,” said a grunt. He headed out of the Art Museum and the other grunts followed. “Well, that was… productive. I don’t think the guy’s in Lilycove. He probably headed for Fortree or something after we took over this city.”

Just outside the museum, they could see 3 more grunts surrounding a guy (who looked around 18 years old) who was sitting on a bench with a book. Because of the angle, the museum-grunts could only see that the guy on the bench had black hair, a white cap, black pants and a black jacket. The museum-grunts walked over towards the bench to see what was going on.

“Look you, I don’t know who you think you are, but you better cooperate,” said one of the bench-grunts.

“Hey, I don’t know who you are, but just go away, would you? I’ve been reading the same freaking sentence in my book for the last three minutes,” the boy said. “And the plot’s getting interesting.”

A ShadowNet grunt yanked the book away and tossed it behind. The boy sighed as he looked at his bookmark lying on the bench beside him. He then stood up, and reaching into his pocket, glared at the grunts.

“Oh, you bastards…”

…

Route 1, Kanto, 2 pm…

…

Platinum was busy talking to her friends as she headed towards Viridian City while Gold and Crystal followed from behind. In order to conserve some time in traveling around Kanto, the Sinnoh trio were riding their foldable bicycles while Crystal was on her Meganium and Gold on his skateboard.

The goggled boy was busy thinking of new orders for Crystal while the girl sighed at the oncoming darkness. The jerk had ordered her to _brush his teeth for him_ after lunch, and Crystal had struggled with the urge to shove the toothbrush down Gold’s throat. Now, she was afraid of the possible tasks the fool would give her.

Gold sped up so he could talk to Platinum, leaving Crystal fuming in the cloud of dust he created with his skateboard.

“Hey, Proto-Gal, where’s the first Gym that you’re going to challenge?”

“Since senior Green had given me the Earth Badge, I believe that my first destination is the Pewter Gym. And I also believe that the Gym Leader specializes in Rock types, like Mr. Roark in Sinnoh’s Oreburgh Gym.”

“Roark, huh?” Diamond muttered. He somehow managed to reach into his bag and withdraw the Roark-mask he wore back in the days and put it on his face all while riding a bicycle (hands free) and looking at the heiress. “That shouldn’t be a problem, Lady. You beat Roark years ago, and you’re much stronger now.”

“By that logic, I would not have many problems with the Cerulean Gym,” Platinum started, and Diamond put on a Crasher Wake mask (which he never used the first time, worn on top of the Roark mask). “Vermillion Gym (Volkner mask, also never used), or the Celadon Gym (Gardenia mask).” Diamond said something, but Platinum couldn’t hear him as his voice was muffled by the four masks which overlapped to completely cover his face. “Diamond, I cannot hear you. Would you please remove the masks?”

Diamond took off the four masks and after stuffing them back in his bag, spoke again.

“I was saying that you won’t have problems in this region.”

Crystal sped up with her Meganium and silently ordered the Herb Pokémon to stomp on Gold’s skateboard, sending the goggled boy flying backwards. An… _accident_.

“Hey Platinum, are you going to train before your Gym Battles?” Crystal asked.

“Yes, senior.”

“In that case… I can help you,” Crystal said after a brief moment of thought. “After all, I do have every Pokémon the Gym Leaders have, and I have seen most of them battle during the Gym Leader Exhibition Match years ago.”

Platinum looked overjoyed. “Oh, thank you, senior! I would be honored to train with you!”

“SUPER SERIOUS GAL!” Gold yelled from behind.

Crystal looked back and saw the goggled boy chasing after her with all his might. ‘ _Uh oh…_ ’ “Hey Gold, where’d you go?” she asked with an innocent look as he skateboarded right beside her.

“Crys, I’m going to tell senior Blue that you purposely sent me flying off my skateboard,” Gold said while glaring at her. “What you did was _totally_ uncalled for!”

“Oh, Gold, grow up. You sound really childish,” Crystal said with a sigh.

“And now you insult me? Now I’m really telling.”

The girl sighed again. “Fine. When we get to the next city, I’ll buy you a lollipop or something.”

“Ha, you dare bribe me? Why Crys, I never thought you were so low!” Gold said with a smirk.

Crystal gritted her teeth and tried to calm her erupting anger. Her face was red from anger, fists were white from clenching too hard, and there was a thick vein that bulged out from her forehead.

“Look at the vein on her forehead… She’s going to blow!” Pearl said to Diamond while glancing back at his senior.

Crystal took a shuddering breath and hoped that Platinum would gather all the Kanto Gym Badges quickly. Within two days, at the latest… otherwise, she might _murder_ Gold.

…

Pallet Town…

…

Blue stood quietly, occasionally glancing towards the direction of her old home. She considered in asking her parents whether they could move back to Pallet Town. They’d probably refuse, as the town gave them bad memories… But Blue wanted to move back to Pallet Town. Perhaps she could try to convince them.

She sent out her Wigglytuff and looked at Green, who was looking at the remaining Dex Holders with a blank look. Feeling her gaze, the Gym Leader glanced at her. The girl signaled him to come closer and hid behind a tree.

“Thanks again Green,” she started quietly when Green came towards her. “If… if you’re not busy, would you like to come over for dinner? I’m sure my parents would like to get to know you better.”

Green looked at her and narrowed his eyes. “… Why?”

Blue looked slightly depressed. “Out of all my friends, you’re the only one who refused the offer every time.”

“What guarantees do I have that you are not tricking me into one of your schemes?”

Blue remained silent for a few seconds before she sighed. “Please trust me… You can trust me now… My parents were always so far away, but they’re close now. But I can’t help feeling that in exchange, I’m losing my friends…”

Green noticed the lack of enthusiasm in her voice. Perhaps something bad happened to her recently? Green simply stuffed his hands into his pockets. “Red trusted you, and look what you did to him. Although it was nothing too bad.”

Blue looked down in disappointment. “I understand…”

“You do realize that I’m a Gym Leader and that I need to be at my Gym.”

“Green, that’s a stupid excuse. You’re never at your Gym! That’s why you have that hologram substitute and your ridiculously strong Pokémon that can fight on their own!”

The Viridian Gym Leader sighed and withdrew a notebook. “I’ll consider your offer, though. Let me check my schedule…” He noticed that someone had scratched out “possible Gym Battle” and wrote “thrashing some unlucky kids” in his schedule. Naturally, he glared at Blue. “What else did you do to my notebook?”

Blue looked genuinely confused. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She suddenly realized something and looked even more depressed. “But you naturally assume it was me, huh?”

Green examined her expression for a few seconds before he put his notebook away. He peeked around the tree, and after ensuring that no one was around, put his hands on Blue’s bare shoulders. “Okay, what’s wrong with you today? You’re usually a lot more… perky.”

Blue sighed. “You can’t expect me to keep that façade on forever, do you? There haven’t been many reasons for me to smile recently…” She looked up at the Gym Leader’s eyes for a split second before she looked away. “Green, did you know that before I dropped in front of Red’s house 3 weeks ago, no one had bothered to call or visit me for two months? Silver called at least once a week, but no one else did.”

Green put his hands back in his pockets. “I can’t explain the lack of calls, but I can explain the lack of visits. You live in a place that isn’t easy to go to. You live too far away to visit frequently, but not far enough to go over for a few days. You live a few hours away by ship, but through the air, it’s two hours straight over the ocean from Vermillion.”

“If… if I move back to Pallet Town…” Blue started.

“Then that would change.”

“Okay…” Blue got her Wigglytuff to inflate and gently hopped on.

Green watched her and shook his head. ‘ _I’m going to hate myself for this…_ ’ “Blue, I’ll accept your invitation. State the date and I’ll be in One Island that day.”

The girl looked at him in surprise. “Really? … How about today?”

Green sighed. “I gave you my word. Fine. What time?”

Blue smiled faintly. “Right now?”

The Viridian Gym Leader simply sent out his Charizard, as if he expected the whole thing. But as he jumped onto his Charizard, Blue got off of her Wigglytuff.

“What are you doing?” Green asked with a sigh.

“Do you mind if I ride with you?” she asked. “I mean… your Charizard is faster, after all,” she added hastily.

‘ _This is going to be a long day…_ ’ “Fine…”

Silver watched from afar as Green and Blue headed towards One Island. He remembered what she had said to him a few weeks ago, and felt relieved that she wouldn’t be so lonely now. He sent out his Honchkrow and prepared to return home.

“Hey, Hoenn guys!” Red yelled. Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald were quite far away from him at that time, but in a blink of an eye, Sapphire was in front of him. The champion wondered whether she knew how to contract space. “You three came a long way, so… what are you going to do?” he asked once the other two Hoenn Dex Holders arrived in front of him.

“I want to stay with you and train!” Sapphire said excitedly before her fellow Hoenn Dex Holders even had a chance to breathe. “You said that you would train me!”

“What? Nonsense!” Ruby exclaimed. “We have to go to Celadon City’s Department Store! They’ll have lots of stuff that we can’t buy in Hoenn. We’ll need to stock up!”

Sapphire glared at him. “No, I’m training!”

Ruby glared back. “No, you’re shopping!”

“Training!”

“Shopping!”

“TRAINING!”

“SHOPPING!”

Emerald groaned as he tried his best to cover his ears. “Shut up, the both of you!”

Red looked at Ruby and Sapphire bickering with each other and looked at Yellow for help. Yellow put a hand on Ruby’s shoulder to try to get him to calm down. Red tapped Sapphire on the shoulder and instantly, she stopped bickering and looked at him expectantly.

Red cleared his throat. “Well then… Sapphire, let’s train.”

The girl jumped in joy repeatedly as she said her thanks to her role model. Ruby groaned and put a hand over his face. Yellow tapped her junior on the shoulder to get him to look at her.

“Um… Ruby, how about we go to Celadon City Department Store?” she offered.

“How often do you go shopping?” Ruby asked.

“Basically never.”

Ruby slapped a hand over his face. “That… will have to change…”

…

Later that day, Pewter City hotel, 8 pm…

…

Crystal lay on the couch and placed a hand on her forehead. She felt… dizzy. The jerk named Gold had given her more degrading and anger-fueling tasks. He even ordered her to wash his skateboard and his dirty clothes. He claimed that it was her fault that his clothes got dirty and that she had the responsibility of washing them.

And now, Crystal had a severe headache and she had no doubt that her blood pressure had skyrocketed. And as a result, she had been unable to train Platinum for her upcoming Gym Battle. Luckily Pearl offered to take over, and the Sinnoh trio left the hotel to train and challenge Brock. And, if she was lucky, Gold would have left the hotel to do something exciting and leave her alone to rest. But to her horror, Gold came into her vision. The girl quickly pretended to be asleep. The last thing she wanted was another task…

“Hey Crys, I know you’re awake,” he said.

‘ _Damn it, Gold…_ ’ “What do you want?” Crystal groaned out.

“Come, I made you dinner,” Gold said.

Crystal faced him with a skeptical look. “… Why, did you spit in it?”

“No.”

“Is it going to make me sick? Because I’m feeling quite sick already.”

“No, no.”

“All right Gold, what’s wrong with it? There’s no way that you’ll make dinner for me unless there was something that your puerile mind would find funny.”

“No, no, no! There’s nothing wrong with it! I just felt sorry for pissing you off so much today.”

“Don’t lie to me Gold,” Crystal groaned out again. “I’m not in the mood right now.”

“Crys, what do I have to do to prove that I have no ill intentions this time?”

“You can’t do anything. It’s a little too late for that.”

Gold sighed. “Fine.” He walked away and Crystal started to feel bad. But he’ll have to understand her decision. But to her surprise, Gold came back, carrying a small table with a bunch of plates full of food. “Look, I made all this!”

“Wow…” Crystal muttered.

Gold stabbed a spoon into the mound of food on a plate and looked at Crystal. “Open up and say ‘ah’!”

Crystal slowly sat up and glared at Gold. “Even if I did want to eat, I’m not crippled, Gold. I’m fully capable of eating by myself.”

“Crys, I’m trying to be nice to you for a change.”

“… What do you want from me? You’ll never do something nice without wanting something in return.”

“I don’t want anything in return! I’m just being nice. If you don’t like it, then I can change,” Gold said as he repositioned the spoon so that it appeared as if he was going to launch the spoonful of food into Crystal’s face.

Crystal sighed. “Fine… But if this is a trick…” She snatched the spoon from Gold and after preparing herself, put the food in her mouth.

“Well?”

“… It’s… it’s pretty good, actually,” Crystal said after a few seconds. “A lot better than what I expected.”

“Ha! I beat your expectation, huh? Well, enjoy the meal.”

“… Am I going to have to clean the dishes?”

“No, no. I think I’ll make Proto-Gal do it. Or maybe Slow-Bro.”

“Who?”

“You know, the guy that’s always eating. But that’s beside the point. The point is: you should relax for the rest of today.”

“Well… thanks, Gold.”

…

Two days later, August 13, 11 am…

…

“Hello?” Crystal said into her Pokégear.

“Crystal, this is Green,” came the Gym Leader’s voice from the other side.

“Oh, hi, Green.”

“Where are you?”

“We’re currently in Route 12. Platinum, Dia, Pearl, and Gold are looking through the binoculars in the watch tower.”

“Crystal, listen carefully, but do not panic. I want you to get those four out of the watch tower, and I need all five of you to return to Pallet Town immediately. Professor Elm arrived an hour ago, and he has some… bad news regarding Johto.”

Crystal almost dropped her Pokégear. “Johto? W – What’s going on?”

“From what we’ve been able to piece together, there’s an evil team in Johto that’s trying to take over that region.”

“D – Did anything happen to Violet City?”

“Crystal, just get over here. We’ve sent Red and Sapphire to Violet City to find out what happened. When they return, we’ll let you know.”

…

Meanwhile, Canalave City, Sinnoh…

…

“All right, listen up. Our regional HQ is in Hearthome City, but we don’t have the city under control. So squads 1 to 15, head over to Hearthome City and take it over. Squads 16 to 25, take over this city. Any reinforcements we receive will enter Sinnoh through here. Everyone else, we’re going over to destroy Celestic Town and deal with the region’s champion. Let’s move!”

…

Meanwhile …

…

L: What’s the status of 05-032?

D: We have another stabilizer for the… rampant problem. It does work, but in a different way. Without the stabilizer, the subjects lose control over themselves and the mind control device goes rampant. The subjects end up attacking everything nearby. But with the new stabilizer, the subjects can go through up to 4 different stages. The very first stage is… unsettling. The subject looks identical to the rampaging form, but can be commanded and will not go into a rampage. The subject is not conscious at this time, but is physically stronger and faster. The second stage occurs when the subjects start to thrash around. We can’t give specific commands to them, but we can give them general orders. The third stage looks identical to the subject except the exoskeleton disappears and can reform at will. The subjects in the third stage only have a layer of the exoskeleton material over their faces. The fourth and final stage is when the mind control device completely melds into the subjects. The subjects are in complete control over themselves and can create the exoskeleton at will to take advantage of the boosts in strength.

L: … Wow. So subjects in stage 4 aren’t really under our control, now are they?

D: No sir. But luckily, no subject had been able to progress to stage 4. One came close, but it requires tremendous mental strength and willpower to go from stage 3 to 4. We are currently developing an upgrade to the stabilizer to make it impossible to get from stage 3 to 4.

L: Great then. Get every prisoner, useless members, and troops in our HQs to the third stage.

D: Uh… that is not possible at this time, sir. We don’t have anywhere near the amount of mind control devices.

L: Right! Well then, let’s get working! Time to move on to mass-production!

D: Oh, by the way, should we send some assault teams over to the Sky Pillar?

L: Why?

D: Having Rayquaza under our control would greatly help us crush the opposition.

L: Legendary Pokémon are quite predictable in a way. They’ll only awaken to participate in a fight if someone disturbs their rest or someone does something that directly affects them. For example, Mew will interfere with anything only if Mewtwo is involved. For Rayquaza, it will only rise to battle if we try to wake it up. So don’t. Besides, if we try to take on Rayquaza right now, we’ll be destroyed. Groudon and Kyogre are Pokémon capable of destroying entire regions and Rayquaza is a Pokémon capable of calming those two and possess equal power. We don’t stand a chance against that thing.

D: But what if our enemies try to use those Pokémon?

L: They won’t be able to. As long as we leave the other Legendary Pokémon alone, no Legendary Pokémon will participate.

D: But…

L: Listen. If we piss off Lugia, then Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres will join the battle. If we piss off Ho-oh, then Raikou, Entei, and Suicune will join. If some crazy bastard within our ranks decides to piss off Arceus, then Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina will all join the battle and we’re all going to die. They’re the most threatening Pokémon along with Groudon, Kyogre, and Rayquaza. So, _leave them alone_.

D: What about Regigigas?

L: What _about_ Regigigas?

D: Once we have Sinnoh under our control, should we attempt at taking Regigigas? It seems to be the only Legendary Pokémon that won’t be able to destroy us or escape.

L: No. At best, having it will only get Regirock, Regice, and Registeel to join the battle. And those three are already captured by someone. So don’t bother.

…

/ / FRAGMENT 3/ERROR [RECORDED VERBATIM AND INTERPRETED PRE-CATACLYSM]

S: ShadowNet finally developed something that we will be able to use. But it’s not ready yet. We’ll have to wait further.

J: Great. More hiding and waiting. By the way, in the videos of their precious little project 05-032, what’s that black thing that turns into that white thing?

S: You don’t need to know what the initial black thing is. The white thing is something formed from psychic energy. ShadowNet’s mind controlling device works by having the controlling device alter the target’s brain waves to gain complete control over the target. The white exoskeleton is the result of the psychic energy traveling through the target’s body.

J: By the way, how’d you get the videos anyways?

S: You forget that I have a Pokémon that can blend in to the environment. Stealing a disc is easy.

/ / FRAGMENT ENDS

* * *

**Current Dex Holder KIA/MIA list: NONE! … for now.**

* * *

What Could Have Been (cut out to quicken the pace… again, 1 of 2):

Diamond stood behind Emerald, looking for a place to sit. It was lunch time, and the relaxed Dex Holder couldn’t wait to start eating. Perhaps he would start with some bread… a croissant, maybe?

“Uh… Dia?” Pearl said from behind.

Diamond started to drool as he thought of eating a giant croissant, such as the one right in front of him… He snapped out when he realized that he was looking at the hair of his senior. But it was too late…

Emerald felt something drip onto his head. Instantly realizing what it was, his temper flared and he slowly stood up. Gold, who saw what happened, burst into laughter.

“Dia, run!” Pearl yelled.

Diamond did as told and ran as fast as he could. But he forgot what he read in Platinum’s notebook about Emerald… The Hoenn Dex Holder extended his Magic Hand Extensors to maximum and instantly caught Diamond. Emerald then dragged his victim away from the other Dex Holders, and more specifically, behind a thick tree.

“I regret nothing!” Diamond yelled out before he disappeared from view behind the tree.

…

(2 of 2)

…

Gold grinned as he watched the Sinnoh trio look at the Pokémon Tower in Lavender Town. He just thought of something… _hilarious_. Crystal would probably disagree, but hey, since Platinum didn’t have all 8 Kanto Gym Badges yet, he technically had full command over her.

“Hey, do you want to go inside?” Gold asked, trying to appear casual.

Platinum looked at the Pokémon Tower and nodded. “This tower does seem similar to Sinnoh’s Lost Tower, but it would be interesting nonetheless.”

Crystal wondered why Gold looked extremely happy, but knew that it couldn’t be good. She was about to suggest doing something else, but Gold glared at her and shook his head.

An hour later, Crystal found herself surrounded by thick fog around the fifth floor of the Pokémon Tower, wondering where the exit was. Behind her, Platinum had her hands clasped together over her heart, constantly glancing around with a frightened expression. Diamond and Pearl were standing beside her, but they couldn’t do anything about the creepy atmosphere and ominous thumping and creaking sounds. To make things worse, Gold had disappeared a while ago…

“Senior Crystal, may we go outside now?” Platinum asked, fear evident in her voice.

“I’ve… been trying to find the exit for the past twenty minutes now,” Crystal replied.

“Are we lost?” Pearl asked.

“Well… yes. Gold! Are you out there?!” Crystal yelled out. The only reply she received was the eerie silence. She swallowed nervously and turned to face her juniors. “Did… did Red tell you what happened to him the last time he was here?”

The Sinnoh trio shook their heads. Crystal was about to tell the story when something popped out from behind and grabbed her shoulders. Platinum screamed and Diamond and Pearl instantly jumped into protective positions. But even they looked alarmed and terrified.

“Lady, don’t look,” Diamond whispered to Platinum. The heiress clenched her eyes shut, but curiosity overcame her and she opened her eyes slightly…

“G – Gold, if… if that’s you, I s – swear that I’ll… I’ll _kill_ you!” Crystal stuttered out, trying to hide the fact that she was scared senseless.

But when she turned around, she ended up screaming. She was looking at the somehow-reanimated skeletal remains of a Machamp, whose skull was right in front of her face. Crystal had turned pale but quickly backed away nonetheless. She looked in horror as the skeletal remains of the deceased Pokémon rose from their graves all around to haunt the living once more…

“S – Senior, what… what is happening?” Platinum asked, absolutely terrified.

Crystal couldn’t say anything. She remembered Red telling her about his experiences with the zombie Pokémon and the possessed Green… She felt a hand touch her shoulder from beside and looked. She could see Gold and his Typhlosion out, but their eyes were blank, as if they were possessed…

Platinum screamed again and shut her eyes. She dropped to her knees and started to cry. Diamond knelt beside her and embraced her, so that he could perhaps tell the heiress how he felt before it was too late.

“We’re all going to die!” Pearl screamed out.

Crystal started to tremble as the possessed Gold started to reach towards her. The girl screamed and tripped as she tried to back away. She clenched her eyes shut and covered her face with her hands to avoid looking at the horrors…

Then she heard Gold laughing… In a minute, Crystal would realize that the Machamp skeleton was a toy, the surrounding zombies were an illusion, and the Gastly that was animating the toy and pretending to be possessing Gold and Explotaro was the oddly colored one she caught to aid Professor Oak’s research. 10 seconds afterwards, she would kick Gold so hard that he would be smashed through the wall of the Pokémon Tower…


	11. Trident

Chapter 11: Trident

Professor Oak’s lab, Pallet Town, August 13, 12:30 pm…

“… So, to avoid being caught or seen, I had no choice but to try to get to Pallet Town on foot,” Professor Elm said, finishing his story. “Of course, climbing over the Tohjo Falls wasn’t easy at all.”

Professor Oak paced around for a few seconds. “How did the evil team manage to accomplish so much without us knowing?”

“I think the first thing they did was take out the communications tower,” Elm said after a moment of thought.

“Green, contact Erika and tell her what happened in Johto,” Oak ordered. “Tell her that every Gym Leader needs to stay on high alert and protect their cities.”

“That won’t be enough,” Elm said with a sigh. “The enemy attacks in huge numbers.”

“Every Gym Leader will have to gather volunteers who are willing to fight the enemy. Every Gym Leader will need to be ready to assist neighboring Gym Leaders whenever possible. I’ll contact Professor Birch and Professor Rowan and inform them of what’s happening.”

“So these guys target Gym Leaders first?” Ruby asked.

“Seems like it,” Elm replied.

Ruby withdrew his Pokégear and attempted to call his master. But there was no signal. He tried to call his grand master, but the result was the same. He then tried to call his father, but again, had no luck.

“Is it possible that these guys have Hoenn as well?” Ruby muttered.

Blue looked alerted. If the evil team was first taking out the communications tower, then her parents were potentially at risk, as the communications center of the Sevii Islands was on One Island. She took out her Pokégear and headed for the door so that she could call in private. But just as she reached for the door handle, the door burst open and slammed into her arm, pushing her to the side. Gold and Crystal ran through the open door and headed straight towards Professor Elm. Blue watched silently from behind. She could understand their worries. She rubbed her sore arm and left the room to make her call.

“What happened?” Gold demanded, glaring at Professor Elm. The Johto professor slightly backed away from the enraged Dex Holder. Youngster Joey purposely avoided eye contact and pretended to be lost in deep thought.

“Did anything happen to Violet City?” Crystal asked hastily.

Green signaled them to calm down as he dialed numbers in his Pokégear.

“You! What happened to my mother?” Gold demanded, pointing his billiard cue at Joey.

“I… I’m sorry, Gold,” the youngster muttered out. “The entire town was being attacked from the sky. I barely had time to escape with Professor Elm. I didn’t have enough time to think about anyone else…”

The goggled boy grabbed the youngster by his throat and lifted him off the ground, with his billiard cue ready to hit him. “So you just left everyone there?”

Crystal quickly put a hand on Gold’s shoulder. “Gold, calm down. There was nothing he could do.”

“Red, where are you?” Green asked through his Pokégear.

“We’re at Violet City.”

“Senior, what happened to my mother?” Gold quickly asked, snatching the Pokégear away from Green.

“… Sorry, Gold,” came Red’s voice a few seconds later. “We encountered some heavy resistance over New Bark Town. To avoid dealing with reinforcements, we had to temporarily back away, and when we came back, we looked for your house. It’s… been destroyed…”

Gold dropped the Pokégear and staggered backwards. Crystal picked up the Pokégear and asked her question.

“What about Violet City?”

“There are lots of Flying types patrolling around. The Pokémon Center, the Gym, and… lots of houses have been destroyed.”

Crystal started to feel dizzy. “What about… what about my house and Earl’s Academy?”

“… Do you really want to know, Crys?” came Red’s worried voice. “Your house, along with Earl’s Academy, had been destroyed. Sorry…”

Crystal dropped the Pokégear, but this time, Green caught it before it hit the ground. The girl put a hand on her forehead as she started to falter.

“My mother… … and… the orphans too? No… it can’t… be…”

Emerald quickly caught his senior as she fainted from shock. Gold glanced at her for a second and his anger erupted once more. He slammed his billiard cue onto the nearest table and left.

Youngster Joey looked at the smashed table and became thankful that Gold did not vent his anger out on him. He thought of trying to comfort the goggled boy, but decided help Emerald move Crystal onto a couch (which Professor Oak had placed so that he could rest during research) instead.

“Red, avoid combat and get back here. We need to think of what we need to do,” Green said through the Pokégear.

Before long, Gold returned, having calmed down significantly. He looked at the smashed table and pulled out some money from his pocket. It was enough to fix _and_ /or replace the table. The goggled boy then walked over to the couch and moved Crystal so that after he sat, he could rest her head on his lap. He removed her hat and brushed her hair out of her face. With his still-unscathed billiard cue, he pointed at Joey.

“You, go get a wet towel,” he said, his voice surprisingly quiet.

The youngster hastily ran to the bathroom and returned with a fresh towel soaked in cold water. Gold folded the towel into a small piece and placed it on Crystal’s forehead. Afterwards, he stared at her face with a blank look, as he didn’t know what to do or say.

Outside, Blue was relieved that she had managed to contact her parents. It meant that the communication center in One Island had not been attacked, which meant that the enemy had not attacked the Sevii Islands yet.

“Daddy?” she said quietly into the Pokégear. “Is everything okay over there?”

“Yes, everything’s perfectly fine here,” her father replied. “Why?”

Blue sighed. “There’s… another evil team that’s trying to take over all the regions. From what I can piece together, Johto and Hoenn are already taken. It’ll be a matter of time before they get to the other regions and the Sevii Islands…”

“Oh… I understand,” her father said with a sigh. “It’s your destiny to fight evil, as you said before. It’s who you are. So don’t worry about me or your mother.”

“But… the enemy would most likely attack One Island first to take out the communications center. So daddy, hide in the shelter in the basement. The enemy might destroy all the houses in One Island. And I don’t think trying to leave the island is a good idea. There won’t be any way to escape when on a ship. I think hiding in a shelter is the best thing for you.”

“Okay. Don’t worry about us, Blue. We’ll be fine.”

Blue smiled a little. “Okay. I’ll see you after this mess is over, daddy.”

The girl hung up afterwards and sighed again. Another evil team threatening to take over the world… when would it all end? Then again, she had been training for this kind of event. Blue took a deep breath and made her mind. She was going to try to end this threat as fast as possible. But to do that, she would need Green’s help. She was sure that she would be able to create an effective plan with him.

…

30 minutes later…

…

All 13 Dex Holders sat around a large table, waiting for Professor Oak to say something. Professor Elm and youngster Joey sat beside the Kanto professor, also waiting. Crystal had managed to wake up a few minutes ago. Although she was still shaky, she claimed that she was fine and that she was ready. The Sinnoh trio had arrived a few minutes ago as well. Gold had given them his Togekiss, but since it had to carry 3 people, it had to take frequent breaks so it could not return to Pallet Town as quickly.

“First, we need to divide the Dex Holders into teams. That way, we’ll be able to dispatch you to multiple areas that need assistance and be sure that you’ll be able to work together effectively,” Professor Oak said after a moment of thought.

“Why not just divide by regions?” Red asked. “Me, Green, Blue, and Yellow as one team, Gold, Silver, and Crys as another, and so on?”

“No. The teams would be too unbalanced,” the professor replied. “You, Green, and Blue are the strongest Dex Holders. If you were to be in the same team, who’s going to look out for the younger Dex Holders? Besides, this would be a great opportunity for the younger Dex Holders to work with their seniors. Think. Red, Green, Blue, you three work great together because you’ve been through many crises together.”

“Hmm… I guess that makes sense,” Red muttered.

“Right. So, you three will lead your own teams. Yellow, you will assist whatever team that might need help. Now everyone else-”

Gold silently rose to his feet and simply stood behind Red. Silver stood behind Blue, as expected. In a blink of an eye, Sapphire had jumped across the table to stand behind Red. Emerald helped Crystal up to her feet and slowly walked towards Green. Ruby shrugged and stood behind Blue.

Professor Oak saw the teams currently formed. ‘ _Red, Gold **and** Sapphire? That would be one reckless team… Now I need someone calm and smart over there…_ ’ He looked at Platinum, and once she looked back, he looked at Red’s team. The heiress understood and stood with Gold and Sapphire.

“Dia, come over here,” Blue said, looking at the relaxed Dex Holder. The Sinnoh boy complied, and as a result, Pearl went over to Green’s team.

“Good. Now the first thing we should do is retake New Bark Town,” Professor Oak started. He glanced at Gold and continued. “Red, take your team and go to New Bark Town. Blue, Green, take your teams to Saffron City and take the Magnet Train to Goldenrod City if you can.”

Suddenly, Ruby’s Pokégear started to ring. He looked and recognized the number as Juan’s.

“Ah, Grand Master!” he said through the Pokégear. “I wasn’t able to contact you or Master or my dad. What’s happening?” As he listened, his expression darkened. “Master lost the will to… but… why? … … Oh…” Ruby glanced at Sapphire, who was looking at him. “… I understand, Grand Master. … … A senior Dex Holder has the ability to read Pokémon’s minds. Perhaps she could be of assistance? … … We are currently in Professor Oak’s lab. … … Yes, Grand Master. I understand…”

Ruby soon hung up and looked rather grim. He faced Sapphire and opened his mouth to speak, but closed it before saying anything, as he didn’t know how he should tell her the news.

“Ruby… what’s wrong?” Sapphire asked with a worried expression.

“Grand Master says that Hoenn is being taken by a team called ShadowNet,” Ruby started. “And he says that… the team’s first target was… your coach.”

Sapphire gasped. “Coach? What… what happened?”

“Grand Master doesn’t know what exactly happened. He’s currently in the basement of Lilycove Hotel with some of the other Gym Leaders. The Gym Leaders have their own backup communications system in New Mauville, and using that system, they can call us. But we can’t call them because we don’t have access to the system. Grand Master is sending us a Pokémon that might know what happened to Winona.”

Crystal made her way towards the Pokémon storage system and retrieved the Pokémon that Juan and just sent. The girl passed the Pokéball to Yellow. Yellow sent out the Pokémon and noticed that it was an Altaria.

Sapphire saw the Altaria and looked alarmed. “That’s… that’s Coach’s Altaria!”

Yellow put a hand over the Humming Pokémon’s head and closed her eyes. Sapphire looked with a horrified expression as her senior started to twitch. Before long, Yellow opened her eyes with a gasp.

“I assume your coach is the lady with the long hair?” she asked Sapphire. The Hoenn Dex Holder nodded. “She… she was patrolling her city from high in the air when ShadowNet attacked. She was hit a few times by a Weavile’s Ice Punch, and… fell off the Altaria…”

Sapphire stared at her senior with a blank look, her mouth slightly open from shock.

“Grand Master said that ShadowNet showed him Winona’s shattered helmet that was covered in blood,” Ruby said quietly. “… Sorry, Sapphire.”

Sapphire started to tremble. Without warning, she dropped to her knees and started to cry. “No! Coach!” she cried out as she pounded the floor with her fists. After a minute (and smashing several tiles on the floor) of crying, she looked up at Red. “Let me go to Hoenn!” she said, her voice still shaking. “I want to fight!”

“Sapphire, Grand Master says that he will be organizing a force to strike at ShadowNet in Hoenn. He told me to keep you away from there. Don’t worry, Sapphire. We’ll get ShadowNet.”

“I understand how you feel, but you have to stay here,” Blue said. “We’ll first need to take Johto and clear the enemies in that region. Afterwards, we’ll move on to Hoenn.”

“But… what about papa?” Sapphire asked. “If I don’t go, he’ll be in danger… I need to go back home so I can save papa and avenge Coach!”

“Grand Master said that Professor Birch and my parents are in New Mauville right now. Your dad is safe,” Ruby said.

Sapphire clenched her teeth, fists, and eyes as more tears threatened to fall. “But… Coach…”

Ruby knelt beside her and put a hand on her shoulder. “We’ll avenge her. But right now, we need you to stay focused, Sapphire.”

The girl wiped away her tears and slowly stood up. She took several shuddering breaths and nodded. Even though she appeared to have understood the situation and was willing to follow with the formed plans, Ruby could see that Sapphire was still upset about the decision. It was possible that she would try to go to Hoenn by herself.

“Slight change of plans,” Professor Oak said. “Red team, you’re still going to New Bark Town. Blue team, go over to Johto and scout the cities. Avoid fighting as much as possible. Find which cities have the highest concentration of enemies, and what they’re planning on doing. Green team, try to establish a communication network of our own. Make sure it can’t be traced or interrupted, and that only we have access. Right now, Pokégears registered in Johto and Hoenn won’t work. So we need to get around that problem.”

“Just the four of us?” Green asked. “It’ll be very difficult to establish a communication network.”

“I know. I’m going to help as much as possible, and I’ll get Daisy, Bill, and Celio to help.”

…

Lilycove City, Hoenn, 1:30 pm…

…

“Here I was, minding my own f*cking business, then you bastards showed up and started treating me like sh*t! Go, triple Dragon Pulse!”

ShadowNet grunts took cover behind vehicles and trees to avoid getting nailed by the Dragon Pulse. They watched in shock as several of their aerial Pokémon plummeted after getting hit. One grunt peeked around a tree to look at the enemy. The enemy trainer had 5 Pokémon out, all of them Dragon type.

“A Dragonite, Flygon, Salamence, Garchomp, and… what’s that 3 headed thing?”

“How the hell should I know? All I know is that that thing is firing off 3 Dragon Pulses at once!”

“Don’t we have any Ice types?” asked the third grunt.

“We _did_. They fell to a hail of Flamethrowers.”

“Look!” yelled the fourth grunt. “Let’s just… try to get him to calm down. He’s clearly not working for the Gym Leaders since he didn’t really care about what we were doing. He’s pissed off because you morons threw his book away and bothered him!” The grunt picked up the book that was on the ground and shook a piece of blank paper in the air while still hiding behind the tree. “Look!” he yelled to the trainer. “A white flag!”

The trainer’s Garchomp hacked the tree into several pieces with Dragon Claw and glared at the grunt. Seeing the white ‘flag’, the Mach Pokémon led the grunt towards its trainer, while it kept its claws near the grunt’s head (in case he attempted anything). The grunt approached the trainer and dropped to both knees. With both hands, he presented the trainer his book.

“We’re sorry that we were acting like assholes,” said the grunt when the trainer picked up his book. “Now could we stop this meaningless fight?”

“You’re the ones who started,” the trainer said angrily. He looked at the destroyed buildings in Lilycove City and slammed the book (corner first) onto the grunt’s head. He then looked back where quite a few people were gathered. “People of Lilycove City! Look what these bastards did to our city! Let’s drive them out before they do any more damage!”

“Wait… “our” city?” the grunt muttered.

“Lilycove City is my hometown!” the trainer yelled. “Ever since you bastards got here, I’ve been looking for a chance to strike back, and now’s the time!” he yelled and slammed the corner of his book onto the grunt’s head again.

The people of Lilycove City instantly charged towards the cowering ShadowNet grunts, throwing rocks, sticks, chunks of metal, cinder blocks, and broken glass from destroyed buildings. Some people sent out Fighting type Pokémon to throw some heavier things (like a piece of a wall).

More ShadowNet grunts (ones who were patrolling the city) started to arrive at the scene, and they too, were greeted with a hail of building pieces. The trainer assisted by shooting down most of the Flying types with various attacks. From afar, he could see more ShadowNet reinforcements, coming from the direction of Mossdeep City. The trainer prepared to fight the reinforcements when the leading Flying types were shot down by a huge Water Pulse and Flamethrower. The trainer looked around to see where the attacks came from when a girl ran up to him. He recognized the girl as one of the two Mossdeep Gym Leaders, Liza.

“There’s someone who wants to talk to you,” said the Gym Leader.

The trainer ordered all 5 of his Pokémon to use Flamethrower against a group of ShadowNet grunts then returned his Pokémon and followed the Gym Leader as she led him away from the chaotic battle. He watched as a Lilycove citizen got his Machoke to throw a giant cinder block (on fire, thanks to gasoline) at a group of ShadowNet grunts.

“OH, WE’RE IN HORRIBLE PAIN!” came the ShadowNet grunts’ scream.

“It seems that you started a riot against ShadowNet here in Lilycove,” Liza said with a sigh.

The trainer simply shrugged. Before long, he found himself near the Lilycove Hotel where he saw Juan and Tate blasting oncoming grunts with Water Pulse and Flamethrower from Kingdra and Solrock. The trainer could also see Wallace sitting on the grass nearby with a blank look. Juan saw the trainer approach and turned to face him.

“Ah, so you are the one who caused this uprising,” he said.

“Well… yes.”

“Your assistance would be greatly valuable for the Hoenn Pokémon Association in taking down ShadowNet. How would-”

The trainer rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah… well, I’m not really interested.”

“But… you said that this was your hometown. Look what ShadowNet did to it,” Liza said from beside.

“Yes, that’s true. But I don’t really care about Lilycove City. The only memories I have of this place are bad ones. I only started the riot in this city so I could get out of conflict before I get completely surrounded.”

Juan slightly narrowed his eyes. “A young talented trainer like yourself, whose battling capabilities could match the Pokédex Holders, should use your talents to assist others.” ‘ _This one looks and acts quite similarly to Ruby. As such, he would need a proper catalyst to get involved…_ ’ “But if you do not want to be involved, so be it. Where do you intend to go?”

“Johto,” the trainer replied. “I only came here looking for someone, anyways.”

“Johto, you say?” Juan thought for a second. “My disciple’s disciple, who is also my disciple, told me a few minutes ago that Johto was completely taken by ShadowNet.” As expected, the trainer seemed to be alarmed. “According to him, many cities have been destroyed already.”

The trainer cursed and sent out his Salamence. He hopped on and pointed north. “To Johto! Let’s go!”

Juan watched as the trainer left on his Salamence in a hurry. Tate and Liza looked at the Sootopolis Gym Leader with a confused look.

“We could’ve used that trainer’s help,” said Liza.

“Why did you let him go?” Tate asked.

“That trainer will fight ShadowNet. But not in Hoenn,” Juan replied. “It seems that he has something or someone very valuable to him that has been affected by ShadowNet. He will not be able to maintain his status of bystander for long.” He turned to look at the two Mossdeep Gym Leaders. “Come. We shall go to New Mauville where the rest of the Hoenn Gym Leaders await. And when Wallace is ready to fight, we will begin our war with ShadowNet.”

…

Meanwhile, Goldenrod City, Johto…

…

Whitney sat in a room in the Goldenrod Underground and looked at the other Gym Leaders gathered around. She felt ashamed… her city got taken in a blink of an eye, and it didn’t take the enemy much effort to beat her either.

Morty sat beside with his Gastly and Misdreavus floating around him. He kept his eyes closed as he tried to sense where the other Gym Leaders were. Falkner was lying on the floor, staring at the ceiling with a blank look, wondering what he should do.

“Okay…” Morty started as he opened his eyes. “Bugsy is in Viridian City. Jasmine is in the lighthouse, Chuck is in Cliff Cave, and Clair is in the Dragon’s Den.”

“Great. So we’re all alone,” Falkner said as he sat up.

“I’m not entirely sure what the other Gym Leaders are doing,” Morty said after a moment of thought. “I think they’re fighting the enemy… except for Bugsy, anyways. So the first thing we should do is to find them and help if they are fighting. So we should head to Olivine City first,” he suggested. “Whitney, why don’t you try to get to Kanto and get help? We could use assistance from Professor Oak’s Pokédex Holders.”

“Great… so I have to meet Gold again…” the Goldenrod Gym Leader grumbled out.

“It’s either that, or come with us to fight the enemy.”

“I’ll get going to Kanto…”

…

Celestic Town, Sinnoh…

…

The ShadowNet Sinnoh commander sat on a Staraptor and looked back at all the grunts following. “All right, boys and girls! Here we are, Celestic Town! Now, let’s destroy this place! Bombardment!”

The grunts were about to commence the attack when the leading Flying Pokémon were shot down by a Shadow Ball.

“Oh, no you don’t!” someone yelled from below. The ShadowNet commander looked down and spotted Cynthia glaring at him from the ground with her Garchomp and Spritomb beside her. “We’ve been waiting for you!”

“The Sinnoh champion? What’s she doing here?” the commander muttered. He shook his head and looked at the grunts. “What are you waiting for? Attack her!”

“But… we’re not ready!” one of the grunts whined out. “I thought we were only going to destroy a helpless city today!”

“The champion’s here already! It’s all over! We’re all going to die, man!” cried one grunt from far behind.

“You’re all a bunch of spineless, yellow-bellied cowards, you know that?” the commander yelled. “We outnumber her 60 to 1, damn it! We can win!”

Few of the leading grunts nodded and dove straight for Cynthia. The Sinnoh champion crossed her arms and waited. Before long, the remaining grunts joined the attack and dove straight for her, attempting to hit her with several close-range aerial Hyper Beams and other attacks. But before the grunts could even prepare for the attacks, Cynthia struck first.

“Now!”

Cynthia’s Garchomp used Draco Meteor while several more attacks were aimed at the ShadowNet assault groups from multiple directions.

“Pull back!” the commander yelled as meteorites started to fall from the sky, smashing into the assault group. And even more surprisingly, the grunts who weren’t hit by the meteors were hit by other attacks, including Stone Edge and Psybeam, that weren’t from Cynthia’s Pokémon. “Where the f*ck did that come from?”

Cynthia smiled. “I did say that _we’ve_ been waiting for you. Lucian, Aaron, Bertha!”

“You are not the only ones who are capable of attacking when the enemy least expects it!” Aaron yelled as he jumped out of cover.

“The Elite Four are here too! We’re all doomed!” one of the unscathed grunts yelled out. “… Well, three out of the four are here, anyways…”

“The sixty grunts you left in Canalave City have already been captured!” Cynthia yelled. “Byron, Roark, Gardenia, and a large group of volunteers made sure of that!”

“And your HQ in Hearthome City is no more!” came someone else’s voice from behind. The ShadowNet grunts looked and noticed that Fantina, Crasher Wake, Candice, and Maylene have also gathered. “I will not have the headquarters of you villains in my city!”

The Snowpoint Gym Leader took a glance around before glaring at the ShadowNet commander. “Platinum’s not here, so the Thin-Clothed _Duo_ is going to kick your ass!”

The ShadowNet commander looked at the unexpected opposition. “Four Gym Leaders… three Elite Four members… and the Sinnoh champion… Well, our original plan has been shot to hell…” He turned to look at the grunts. “We still outnumber them! Let’s fight!”

A few grunts prepared to fight valiantly, while the remaining cowering grunts prepared to flee. Cynthia noticed the change in the enemy’s morale and ordered a full attack…

* * *

**Current Dex Holder KIA/MIA list: None.**

* * *

What Could Have Been (was supposed to take place before the Dex Holders find out about Johto, but after Platinum completes her journey around Kanto):

Red, Green, and Blue stood in front of their juniors, looking at every one of them. The three Kanto Dex Holders looked at each other.

“So, who’s going to pick the first member?” Red asked.

Blue smiled and extended a fist. Red and Green glanced at each other before they extended their fists.

“Rock…”

“Paper,”

“Scissors!”

Blue drew paper while the other two drew rocks. With a smile, she looked at Silver. “Of course, I pick Silver.”

In the next round, Red won. He had to pick either Gold or Crystal, so he picked Gold. He might as well be in the same team with someone he had some experience training together. Feeling slightly dejected, Crystal joined Green’s team.

“Ha, how do you like being a ‘last-resort’ member?” Gold asked with a grin. Crystal crossed her arms but didn’t reply. “Just as I thought. I’m going to remember this moment forever!”

Since Green picked last for the Johto Dex Holders, he got to choose first for the Hoenn Dex Holders. Emerald had his hand in the air, as he wanted to be on the same team as Crystal. Green glanced at Crystal and with a slight shrug, chose Emerald.

Realizing that it was Red’s turn, Sapphire jumped up and down while waving her arms in the air. “Ooh, pick me! Pick me!” she yelled out.

Red looked at her for a second before he looked at Ruby. Sapphire kicked the boy _far_ out of the champion’s view and frantically waved her arms again. The girl dropped to her knees in front of her role model and clasped her hands together. Red shrugged and allowed her to join.

With a hand on his rear end (which Sapphire had kicked pretty hard), Ruby went over to Blue’s team. Blue grinned as she looked at Red’s team. She was the first to point out the glaring flaw in the team…

“So, Red… don’t you need someone… _calm_ in your team?”

“Someone with brains would help too,” Silver muttered. “Gold isn’t exactly the smartest Dex Holder.”

The goggled boy gritted his teeth and glared at Silver with all his might. Even though he’d love to, he couldn’t run up and beat the hell out of him, as he knew that Blue would kill him if he tried anything.

“In simple terms, Sapphire,” Ruby started with a smug look. “Your team is the reckless one that charges without thinking or looking left and right. Very… stupid, if you will.”

Sapphire clenched her hands into fists and glared at him. “I take serious offense to that, you jerk!”

“You have every right to.”

“In that regard,” Blue started. “Platinum, why don’t you join Red’s team?” she suggested, looking at the heiress.

“Yes. You are smarter than all three of them put together,” Ruby commented.

Platinum blushed in embarrassment. “I am sure that that is not the case, senior,” she said carefully.

“Oh, don’t be so modest!” Blue said with a smile. “How many books did you say you read per day?”

“10, senior.”

Ruby whistled. “10 books, huh? Well, you’ll be in the same team as a girl who hadn’t read 10 books in her entire life, and probably won’t ever.”

Sapphire’s eye twitched. A vein bulged out from her forehead and she quickly snatched Gold’s billiard cue. Swinging the fully extended indestructible billiard cue, she charged straight towards Ruby. “When I’m done with you, you won’t be able to read either!”

Blue looked as Ruby activated his Running Shoes and ran for dear life. She looked at the remaining two Sinnoh Dex Holders and noticed how one of them kept his eyes glued on Platinum. “Dia, why don’t you join my team?” ‘ _I bet he’s in love with Platinum!_ ’

Diamond snapped out of his thoughts and nodded. He walked towards Blue’s team while Pearl had no choice but to go to Green’s team…


	12. Once More Unto the Breach

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long delay.

Chapter 12: Once More Unto the Breach

New Bark Town, Johto, 3 pm…

Sapphire stood on a tree branch high above the ground and watched for the enemy. She was Red team’s scout, and Red was counting on her to gather as much information about the whereabouts of ShadowNet quickly and accurately. She clenched her teeth as she thought about how ShadowNet was responsible for the death of her coach and how much damage they caused to her home region. But she couldn’t express how upset she was, seeing how two of her seniors were in worse situations. Crystal was more devastated than angry, but Gold was irate. Even now, the goggled boy was getting angrier and angrier with each passing second of waiting.

Right below the tree, the rest of Red team were waiting and discussing. Gold’s suggestion was an all-out attack. Platinum’s suggestion was a quick strike to the enemy’s main force. Red didn’t know what to do, and decided to wait for Sapphire to finish the scouting. That way, with the new information, he would be able to decide what to do.

“Why don’t you just let me go out there and beat the hell out of those bastards?” Gold asked through clenched teeth.

“I do believe that ShadowNet has gained control over this entire region, senior,” Platinum started rather quietly. “If we were to engage them head on and if the ensuing battle stalls… the enemy will constantly receive reinforcements.”

Red looked back and forth both his juniors, wondering whose suggestion he should take. Just then, Sapphire dropped from the tree above and landed quietly on the ground in front of him. Platinum withdrew a map of Johto (given by Blue before Red team left Pallet Town) and flipped to the page of New Bark Town. The rest of Red team looked at the map.

“We are here,” Gold said as he pointed on the map. “And where are they?”

Sapphire examined the map for a second. “Okay, I saw a bunch of Flying types circling around here,” she said, pointing to Prof. Elm’s lab. “I counted 48 Pokémon circling there. And I also counted 5 teams of 4 people patrolling around these streets. There were also 20 people not in uniform scattered around, but I’m pretty sure that they’re ShadowNet in disguise. They were constantly looking at the patrolling guys.”

“Hmm… Anything else?” Red asked.

Sapphire pointed to a forest on the map not that far from Red team’s current position. “I saw something moving in here. I don’t think it’s a wild Pokémon. I think some people are hiding here, but I don’t think they’re with ShadowNet. They were careful to avoid the patrols.”

“If those people are citizens of New Bark Town, we should save them,” Platinum said from beside. “I think one of us should examine that location.”

“That’s near my house…” the goggled boy muttered.

“It could be-” Platinum started, but Sapphire interrupted her with an alarmed look.

“There’s someone coming…”

Red looked at the Hoenn Dex Holder and nodded. Sapphire understood and nodded back. She climbed onto a tree branch silently and waited while the rest of Red team hid behind trees. Gold took cover behind the tree that Sapphire was climbing while Red took Platinum behind another tree. The champion noticed that the heiress was trembling a little. He figured that it was nervousness before combat.

“Oh, I really need to go!” came a voice from nearby.

Sapphire watched as a ShadowNet grunt entered her view and approached her tree. The grunt looked around, and after making sure that no one was watching (or so he thought), prepared to relieve himself. Just as his hands reached down to his pants, Sapphire jumped off the tree and landed behind the grunt. As the grunt turned to see what happened, the girl grabbed both of the grunt’s arms and forcefully spun him so that his face was against the tree. In that moment, Gold jumped out of his cover and with his billiard cue, aimed at the grunt’s neck.

“You move, you die,” the goggled boy growled out.

While Gold and Sapphire threatened some information out of the grunt, Red peeked around his cover to see if anyone else was coming.

“Senior, what do you intend on doing?” Platinum asked quietly from beside.

“I’m thinking of hitting the force around the lab with full power,” Red replied.

“Then we will get surrounded,” Platinum said. “Perhaps you should…” The heiress whispered her suggestion to her senior and the Kanto Dex Holder nodded.

“Good idea. I’ll try that.” The Kanto champion put a hand on the heiress’s bare shoulder reassuringly. “And don’t be so nervous. They won’t be able to hurt you.”

Platinum looked surprised, but nodded. She had been trembling from nervousness, and it was obvious. But she wasn’t nervous because of the upcoming battle with the enemy. She was nervous because she wanted to show her seniors how helpful she could be. She may have impressed some of her seniors during her battle against Green, but she wanted to show that she was capable of holding her own in battle against the enemy.

Soon, Gold slammed his billiard cue onto the captured grunt’s head. He removed the grunt’s equipment (Pokéballs, communication devices, etc) and Sapphire threw the unconscious body far away. Red and Platinum left the cover and approached the two.

“So what are we going to do?” Sapphire asked. “That guy was part of a patrol. If he’s not back, the other ShadowNet guys are going to wonder where he is.”

“Okay. This is what we’re going to do,” Red started. He turned to look at Gold. “Gold, get over to Professor Elm’s lab and start attacking the Flying types circling around.”

Gold nodded and clenched his hands into fists. “Got it. I’ll get those bastards…”

Red looked at Sapphire. “When he’s fighting, the ShadowNet patrols will try to attack him from behind. When that happens, go and join the battle. Hit the patrols from behind.”

“Yes sir,” the girl said as she saluted.

Red looked at her for a second before looking at Platinum. “Change of plans. Platinum, go investigate the forest Sapphire pointed out,” he said. “Be careful; they could be a part of ShadowNet waiting for an ambush.” Before the heiress could object, Red looked at the others again. “When Sapphire joins the battle, those disguised guys will try to attack her from behind. Then I’ll join and we’ll blast them all together. And remember: once again, it is our job to finish what the Gym Leaders and the Pokémon Association _should’ve_ started. We are going to stop hiding and engage the enemy straight on. Don’t even bother talking to them. We’ll strike them so hard they won’t know what hit them. Let’s go!”

Platinum watched as Gold ran out of the forest with his Typhlosion and Ambipom out. Her idea was that she would help the goggled boy along with Sapphire when the time came, but her senior had pushed her out of the battle… With a disappointed look, she went to investigate the forest near Gold’s house as she was ordered.

As she ran towards her destination, she could see Gold blasting ShadowNet Pokémon and grunts with rage powered Flamethrower. Any enemy that came too close got slapped senseless by Gold’s Ambipom. As ShadowNet patrols tried to help their buddies and attack Gold, Sapphire joined the fray, attacking the enemy with rage powered Blaze Kick.

Platinum knew that her two seniors were waiting for the opportune moment to use the ultimate moves. Red had Frenzy Plant in his disposal while Gold and Sapphire had Blast Burn. The heiress wondered if her seniors would teach her how to get her Empoleon to use Hydro Cannon. She hoped that soon, she would be able to use the ultimate attack. Her Kanto seniors were probably going to teach her the ultimate move at the same time as Diamond and Pearl.

Before long, Platinum arrived at the small forest near the remains of Gold’s house. When she got close, she could hear something moving slightly further ahead. Just as she entered the forest, a Weedle and a Kakuna burst out from hiding under leaves and attacked.

Platinum quickly jumped out of the way and sent out her Empoleon. She then pulled out her Pokédex and checked on the details of Weedle and Kakuna.

‘ _Okay… Weedle and Kakuna have stingers. Although Kakuna is still a cocoon, it can move a little and can extend its stinger in times of need_ ,’ the heiress thought as she read from her Pokédex. She then looked at the area-details for the two Pokémon and looked confused. ‘ _Wait…_ ’ “Why are these two here? They are not native to this area…”

Then something odd happened. The Weedle and Kakuna saw her and the Pokédex and stopped trying to attack. The two Pokémon looked at Platinum with a confused look. The Empoleon simply stared at the two Bug type Pokémon while protecting its trainer.

‘ _They seem to recognize the Pokédex_ ,’ Platinum thought. She gently extended her arms forward to show that she meant no harm. “I am not your enemy,” she said carefully. “I am here to try to help people who are victims of ShadowNet’s attacks.”

“Victims? That’s us then,” came someone’s voice from further into the forest.

The Weedle and Kakuna led Platinum deeper into the forest. The heiress could eventually see two people (and a Wobbuffet) being protected by a Drowzee, Chansey, Sandshrew, and a Krabby. The heiress noticed that the two people were women, and while one appeared as old as her mother, the other appeared… younger than Blue. At least the clothes suggested as such, anyways.

“How were you affected by ShadowNet?” Platinum asked politely.

“Oh, not much. They just destroyed our houses, that’s all,” the older-looking woman replied. “I used to live right outside this forest.”

Platinum looked surprised. “That house? That is senior Gold’s house…”

The older-looking woman looked slightly surprised. “You’ve met my son?”

“You are senior Gold’s mother?” the heiress asked. She quickly gave a polite bow. “Yes, he is my senior and I have been placed in the same team as him. He is very worried about you.”

“Where is he?” Gold’s mother asked.

“He is currently fi-”

“Oh, it doesn’t really matter. He’ll be fine,” Gold’s mother said with a dismissive wave.

Platinum simply looked at her, surprised by having found the… family resemblance. The carefree nature that Gold had must’ve come from his mother.

“Hey, if you know Gold,” the younger-looking woman started. “Then do you know a girl named Crys? She wears a white hat, has white socks, red shirt, and kicks Pokéballs.”

“Senior Crystal? Yes I know her, but how do you know her?”

“I’m her mother!” the younger-looking woman said in an oddly cheery way.

“… You are senior Crystal’s mother?” Platinum asked back in surprise. She stared at her for a few seconds, trying to find some similarities between the serious and professional Crystal and… her weird mother. The heiress couldn’t find any resemblance, but remembered hearing from Gold about Crystal’s ‘crazy’ mother. “… Senior Crystal is very worried about you. But I am glad that my seniors will not have to worry anymore.”

“Say, where is Crys?”

“Senior Crystal is currently in Pallet Town of Kanto,” the heiress replied politely. “If I may ask, how did you get here? I do believe that you live in Violet City.”

“Oh, I was picking Apricorns from Route 31 when these guys started to attack Violet City,” Crystal’s mother started. “Crys talked about a boy named Gold from New Bark Town quite often so I decided to come here to see if I can get help. Of course, by the time I got here, New Bark Town had already been attacked. But I managed to find Gold’s house from what I remember Crys telling me, and… here I am! For the past two days, Gold’s mother and I have been talking while Gold’s Pokémon protected us. We expected that someone would come for us, and here you are!”

Outside the forest, Gold and Sapphire watched as ShadowNet grunts started to flee. The combined power of Frenzy Plant and two Blast Burns had overwhelmed the grunts. Gold clenched his teeth and with his Typhlosion, started to chase them. Sapphire thought for a second before she joined her senior in chasing ShadowNet. Red started to run after his two juniors when his Pokégear started to ring.

“Red, this is Blue,” Blue said. “How are you doing?”

“We’ve beaten most of the enemies in New Bark Town. The remaining guys are running away, and we’re chasing them,” Red said as he resumed running.

“Don’t!” Blue yelled. “Return to Pallet Town.”

“Gold! Sapphire! Stop!” Red yelled. He stopped running and resumed focusing on the phone call. “Blue, why?”

“Listen. You just crushed the enemy in New Bark Town, but the entire region of Johto has been taken over. If you stay in New Bark Town or try to move on to Cherrygrove City, you’ll have to fight constant waves of enemies. It’s possible that you’ll end up being surrounded. But if you return to Pallet Town, the enemy will eventually move back to New Bark Town and we’ll be able to pull off a surprise attack on them again. And while ShadowNet is distracted with us constantly raiding them, the Johto Gym Leaders will be able to strike at them when they don’t expect it.”

“Hmm… Good point.” Red turned to look at Gold and Sapphire, who were wondering why they were ordered to stop. “We’re returning to Pallet.”

“What? Why?!” Gold demanded.

“These guys are running away from us. We should chase them and deal with them before they get help!” Sapphire argued.

Red signaled them to be quiet and focused on the call again. “Where are you, anyways?”

“A forest near Goldenrod City,” Blue replied. “ShadowNet kept the Magnet Trains in service to avoid suspicion, it seems. But there were lots of grunts in disguise around the station. I managed to get through with a disguise of my own. Red, I’ll tell you the full details once I return, but I think I found something _big_. I’ll see you when I get back.”

Red hung up and turned to look at his juniors. “We’re going back to Pallet Town. If we stay here or try to push forward, we’ll have to fight endless waves of enemies. Remember, we don’t even know how big ShadowNet really is.”

“That’s great, then! If we push forward, we’ll fight wave after wave of enemies and we’ll be able to root them out faster!” Gold argued.

“Yes! Why should we retreat when we can wipe out ShadowNet all at once?” Sapphire asked. She was about to argue some more when she heard something from afar. She looked alarmed and focused on her hearing. “… I think rookie’s in battle… There must’ve been some ShadowNet grunts left behind…”

Red quickly headed back to where he left Platinum. Gold cursed and followed.

“Damn it!” both Dex Holders yelled.

“Blue’s going to kill me!” Red yelled out.

“Super Serious Gal’s going to kill me!” Gold yelled out at the same time.

Sapphire ran after her seniors with a confused look. “Why?”

“She warned me look after Platinum,” Red replied.

“Super Serious Gal said that she would hunt me down if anything happened to Proto-Gal.”

“Why?” Sapphire asked again.

“She’s the youngest girl amongst the Dex Holder,” Red replied.

“It’s apparently our responsibility to make sure nothing happens to her,” Gold added.

“… Did anyone say anything about me?” Sapphire asked.

“No,” both of her seniors replied at once.

“… So rookie gets all the attention… great…” the girl grumbled.

Before long, the 3 Dex Holders could see Platinum and her Empoleon, Lopunny, and Rapidash battling 4 ShadowNet grunts and their Pokémon. For some reason, the heiress kept her Empoleon behind her, standing in a protective stance. Red prepared to send out his own Pokémon to help when most of the ShadowNet grunts’ Pokémon dropped to the ground. The Kanto champion stopped and watched as Platinum had her Rapidash hit the enemy Mightyena with a Flamethrower and then had Lopunny hit a Dizzy Punch through the smoke to conceal itself. He was quite surprised to see that the heiress could really take care of herself.

The ShadowNet grunts noticed the other 3 Dex Holders and tried to flee. Sapphire took the thick vine she keeps in her bag and using it as a whip, managed to catch one of the fleeing grunts. With the unconscious one in the forest, the Dex Holders now had two captured ShadowNet grunts, and were going to hand them over to Kanto’s police.

“Ah, seniors!” Platinum said happily. “I am glad you came.” She looked at Gold with a bright smile. “Senior Gold, I have great news.”

“Huh?” the goggled boy muttered. “What could possibly be great?”

The heiress returned her Pokémon to their Pokéballs. Behind where Empoleon was, Gold could see what the Emperor Pokémon was protecting. With a surprised look, he ran closer.

Meanwhile, as Sapphire delivered the knockout punch to the captured grunt, she noticed that Red was talking to Platinum, ensuring that she was okay. The heiress ensured her senior that she was perfectly fine and proceeded to explain what happened. Sapphire noticed the caring look on Red’s expression and looked at her junior from a distance enviously.

“Lucky…” she muttered quietly.

She sent out her Tropius and put the unconscious grunt on it. She headed towards the forest where she threw the first unconscious grunt and found him before long. She delivered another punch to the face and dragged him onto her Tropius. Afterwards, she climbed on and waited.

“Right. We should head back to Pallet Town,” Red said. He looked at his team members and frowned. “Okay. We need to get to Pallet by air, and…”

Gold sent out his Togekiss and Mantine (and Remoraids) and crossed his arms. “I guess I’ll ride Mantaro, and mom can ride Togetaro.”

Red turned to look at Sapphire. “Sapphire, do you think your Tropius can carry Crystal’s mother too?”

The Hoenn Dex Holder forced a smile. “Of course. Tororo can handle it no problem.”

“Then that leaves you, Platinum,” Red said, looking at the heiress. “You don’t have a Pokémon that can carry you through the air. You can’t ride Aero either. It can only carry with its claws, which is why Aero carries me whenever I need aerial transport. Sapphire’s Tropius doesn’t have room for another person, and neither does Gold’s Mantine or Togekiss.”

Platinum seemed to have taken the wrong hint and looked rather depressed. “I… I understand, senior… I shall contact someone else and wait here until I am picked up. If all of the other seniors are busy, then I shall find a way to return to Pallet Town myself.”

“What? Nonsense!” Red exclaimed. “The way I see it, the only way we can all return to Pallet Town at once is if I carry you and Aero carries me.”

Platinum looked surprised. “A – Are you sure, senior?”

“Sure. Though this would be the first time I carry someone while in the air, but I don’t think there will be any problems. Aero won’t have any problems, and I’m sure I can carry you for the half hour flight. I’ve carried Blue longer than that before, and she’s heavier than you.” Red looked at his Pokégear and ensured that it was off. He then ran a brief check through all his pockets and the surface of his clothes to make sure that Blue didn’t plant a bug on him. “… Don’t tell her that I said that,” he added nervously at the end. “She’ll kill me.”

Suddenly, his Pokégear started to ring. To his surprise, the caller was Blue. When he answered, the girl’s angry voice came from the Pokégear.

“I heard that, you jerk!” she screamed at him. “Just get back to Pallet Town!”

Red groaned as he put his Pokégear away. “Damn. So she did put a bug on me…” He looked at his team members. “All right. Let’s get back.”

He sent out his Aerodactyl and had it grab his shoulders. He then lifted Platinum onto his arms. The heiress let out a short embarrassed shriek. She blushed in embarrassment and avoided eye contact with her senior. From afar, Sapphire narrowed her eyes and stared at her junior with envy.

…

Pallet Town, 4 pm…

…

Red team arrived at Professor Oak’s lab and the Kanto champion told his team members to take a break while he went to talk to Professor Oak. He was going to simply tell the professor how the battles in New Bark Town went, but as he left the rest area of the lab (so basically a living room of the lab), Crystal stopped him and forced him to follow her re-con-dis system. Gold, who was with Red at the time, looked confused.

“What the hell is re-con-dis?” the goggled boy asked.

“Report, contact, and discuss,” Crystal replied. “First, report what happened. Second, contact others who are on your side. And third, discuss future actions.”

Gold smirked. “I think I’ll stick with my own re-con-dis.”

Crystal crossed her arms. “Really? Well, let’s hear it.”

“Relax, connive, and distract.”

The girl rolled her eyes. “Whatever, Gold. Red, you should follow _my_ re-con-dis system.”

“Uh… okay,” Red said.

Blue appeared from behind and stood behind Red with her hands on her hips. “Red! After you talk to Professor Oak, we need to talk,” she said angrily.

Red swallowed nervously and nodded. “Yes, ma’am…” He turned to look at her, having thought of something to say to supposedly lessen his friend’s anger. “Come on, you’re a lot older than Platinum,” he started. He failed to notice that Blue was now glaring at him. “And you’re bigger than her. Just because you’re heavier than Platinum and probably Sapphire, you shouldn’t get angry.” Again, he failed to notice that the girl’s glare had turned deadlier. “I mean… you’re probably heavier than Crys, and she’s probably heavier than Platinum, but you don’t see her getting all upset.”

Crystal narrowed her eyes but simply sighed and shook her head. Red was doomed anyways. And seeing how Blue was trembling with rage at the moment, she thought it was wise to grab Gold’s hand and drag him away from the coming fire.

“Oh, Super Serious Gal, there’s something I want to show you,” Gold said, snapping his fingers.

Crystal sighed. “I’m guessing it’s inappropriate, so I don’t want to see.”

“No, no. It’s something our team found in New Bark Town. Well, Proto-Gal found it anyways.”

As the two Johto Dex Holders entered the rest area, Platinum approached them.

“Ah, senior Crystal! I have a surprise for you.”

Crystal now looked a little eager. “What?”

Platinum stepped aside and pointed at the couch. “The surprise is…”

Crystal’s mother jumped out of hiding behind the couch. “Surprise!”

“M – Mom?!” Crystal exclaimed. She quickly ran to her mother, glad that she was okay. Then a thought occurred and her cheeks turned red from embarrassment. “What were you doing, hiding behind the couch?” Another thought occurred and she put a hand on her face. She turned to look at Platinum. “You… you found my mother, right?”

“Yes, senior.”

Crystal groaned. The last thing she wanted was having her strange mother appear in front of her juniors. “Oh… how embarrassing…”

…

An hour later…

…

The Dex Holders gathered at the rest area along with Professor Oak, discussing future actions to take against ShadowNet. Sapphire still asked if she could head over to Hoenn, but her seniors and Professor Oak didn’t allow it. Green stood up and paced around a little.

“Regardless of what we do, the Kanto Gym Leaders need to defend their cities,” he started. “ShadowNet tends to attack cities with Gyms to attack the Gym Leaders first to remove any future resistance. However, I can’t focus on defending Viridian City if I’m leading my own team to fight ShadowNet. Are there any suggestions?”

“You could just get volunteers from Viridian City to defend the city for you,” Blue suggested as she steadily fanned herself with a foldable fan from her bag in an attempt to calm herself down. She was still very angry at Red and had given him a 40 minute lecture on how he should think before talking.

“We’ll probably need someone highly skilled in battling,” Green said after a moment of thought. “Random volunteers won’t be enough.”

“What about Lorelei?” Red asked. “Get the Elite Four to help us.”

“Good idea. But does anyone have their contact information?” Crystal asked.

Green sighed. “Damn it…”

“Perhaps I could be of some assistance!” came someone’s voice from behind.

Red became alerted; he recognized that voice… So did Silver, apparently. The Johto Dex Holder rose to his feet and looked where the voice came from. The Kanto champion jumped to his feet and reached for a Pokéball. He turned towards the voice in full combat stance. Gold and Sapphire also jumped to their feet and prepared for battle as well. Platinum simply appeared confused.

“You…” Red said with a glare.

Blue gasped in surprise. She stood beside Silver and looked at him. “Silver, isn’t that…”

“F – Father…”

* * *

**Current Dex Holder KIA/MIA list: none (perhaps I put this empty list up a little too early).**

* * *

What Could Have Been:

ShadowNet Johto HQ, Goldenrod City…

“How’s the prisoner?” the Johto commander asked.

“She’s doing fine, sir. She remembers what happened and seems to be quite traumatized.”

“What about her victim?”

“It turns out that the girl shattered his jaw with that one strike, with enough force injure his neck. He’s alive, but he seems to be paralyzed.”

“… Bring him out here. We have orders to test our experiments against prisoners or useless minions.”

“Yes sir.”

Before long, two grunts appeared, carrying the injured grunt between them. The two healthy grunts placed the injured one on a table within the glass-test cage and backed away.

“All right. We are going to test a prototype for a different kind of a mind controlling device. This one will find and attach to targets on its own.”

“How does it do that?” a grunt asked.

“Let’s just say that our mind controlling devices are living things,” the commander replied. “Okay, commence the test!”

Three ShadowNet grunts entered the glass cage and dropped off a large mechanical box. The grunts then left the cage and sealed it tight from the outside so that only the injured grunt was with the box. The Johto commander pressed a button and the box opened.

The injured grunt tried to see what was happening. He couldn’t move his body or head, but he could move his eyes. From the box, he could see some kind of a brown balloon like thing climb out. The balloon like thing dropped onto the floor and began to crawl towards him using several tiny tentacles.

The Johto commander watched with several other grunts as the balloon like thing jumped onto the injured grunt inside the glass cage. He suspected that the balloon like thing would expand and cover the grunt’s face, thereby beginning the mind controlling process. He was wrong.

The balloon like thing stabbed the injured grunt in the chest near the heart and began to dig with its tentacles. Everyone watched in horror as the balloon like thing forced itself to enter the chest cavity.

The grunt started to thrash around despite his paralysis. It seemed that the balloon like thing was controlling his limbs now. As the grunt thrashed around, some kind of bubbles started to form on his neck and exposed skin while the skin itself started to change. The skin was starting to rot at a fast pace…

The grunt suddenly sat up and got off the table. He approached the glass and stared at the Johto commander with an expression of indescribable agony. He slammed the cage with his right hand before he lost all control over himself.

The commander watched in horror as the grunt’s chest started to expand, as if the balloon like thing was expanding from inside. Then, with a sickening pop and a growl that sent shivers down everyone’s spines, the grunt’s neck _snapped_ as the balloon like thing severed the grunt’s spine and forced the muscles on his neck and shoulder to shift to make room. The thing that used to be a ShadowNet grunt now stared at the Johto commander with its head hanging limp to the side. Without warning, the ex-grunt roared as three long tentacles sprouted from its left forearm.

The ShadowNet grunts watching from the outside appeared to be disturbed, with good reason too.

“I think I’m going to be sick!” one of the grunts yelled out.

“Yeah… me too… Let’s get out of here!”

“Oh, the stench! It’s horrible!”

The Johto commander looked at the grunts nearby. “… I think we created an abomination…”

“What should we do?”

“Kill it. Burn it. Make sure there’s nothing left. The process has been recorded on video, so our bosses will know that they should purge this prototype. And we will never mention this again.”


	13. The Storm

Chapter 13: The Storm

“What are you doing here?” Red demanded as he glared at Giovanni. Yellow rose to her feet and hid behind Red, afraid of a possible battle.

“Relax, _champion_ ,” Giovanni said with a smirk. “I’m not here to fight you.”

“Senior, who is that?” Platinum asked Red as she stood beside him.

“He’s Giovanni,” Yellow replied instead. “He’s the former Gym Leader of Viridian City, the leader of Team Rocket, and-”

“He’s my father,” Silver said as he stood in front of Red, facing his senior.

“Say what?” Red asked in shock.

“Giovanni is Silver’s father,” Blue said. “I could’ve sworn I told you that.”

“What? When?”

“In the Hoenn Battle Frontier,” Blue replied. “You were probably too preoccupied with the whole battle tournament to pay any attention to what I was saying. You can be a real jerk sometimes, you know that?”

Red rubbed the back of his neck. “Uh… sorry? But I really don’t remember you telling me that.”

Blue crossed her arms and turned away. But a thought occurred. ‘ _Hmm… Maybe I actually didn’t tell him…_ ’

Red signaled his team members to relax. “Well, if you’re really Silver’s father,” he said to Giovanni. “Then… okay.” He sat back down and looked as if nothing happened.

Platinum returned to her seat as well and noticed how easily forgiving her senior was. The other Dex Holders returned to their seats except Silver, who remained standing. Giovanni suddenly tossed him a Pokéball. The Johto Dex Holder caught it and noticed that it was the Pokéball of his Ursaring. After looking at it for a second, he put it away and withdrew a different Pokéball. He tossed it to Green. Now that he had his Ursaring back, he felt the need to return his senior’s Rhyperior.

“So, what are you here for?” Green asked as he put his Rhyperior away.

“Like I was saying, I came to be of some assistance. I’m aware of this ShadowNet growing in Johto.”

“What? How do you know that?” Red asked.

“You forget who you’re talking to,” Giovanni replied. “And let’s just say that knowing a really powerful psychic has its uses.”

“A powerful psychic?” Red said. “Who?”

\\\ _Surely you haven’t forgotten about me?_ \\\

Red jumped in surprise and looked around. Yellow looked at him with a worried expression. “What’s wrong?” she asked.

“I just heard a voice in my head,” the champion answered.

The door behind Giovanni opened again and two people entered. Red recognized them as Lt. Surge and Sabrina.

“It’s been a while,” the Saffron Gym Leader said. \\\ _Red._ \\\

“So… what exactly are you two doing here?” Green asked.

“They are here to prove to you that they are willing to aid you in defending Kanto,” Giovanni answered. “Now, I know that ShadowNet attacks in great numbers. And given your numbers, you won’t be able to fight ShadowNet in Johto and defend Kanto at the same time.”

“And you three will make that much of a difference?” Blue asked.

“We have lots of Team Rocket members willing to fight alongside you,” Lt. Surge replied. “If this ShadowNet wants a war, we’ll give them war.”

Blue narrowed her eyes. “And why exactly should we trust you? It wasn’t that long ago when you tried to take over Kanto or almost destroyed half of the Sevii Islands.” The girl gritted her teeth as the unpleasant memories flooded her mind. “You had my parents kidnapped right in front of me before our reunion!”

“So, how do we know that you won’t try to take over Kanto while we’re at Johto?” Red asked.

“You have one guarantee,” Giovanni replied. “My son Silver. Do you really think that I would betray my son, who I spent 11 years looking for?” He looked at Silver, who remained silent. “As long as Silver is on your side, I will not go against you.”

Red, Green, and Blue looked at each other. Blue glanced at Silver and decided to trust Giovanni.

“Okay,” she started. “If Silver trusts you, then so do I.”

Red and Green nodded in agreement with Blue. Silver returned to his seat and looked at his father, wondering whether he really could trust him.

“Good.” Giovanni turned away and headed for the door. “If you need support for your fight against ShadowNet, come find me in Viridian City.”

Lt. Surge and Sabrina followed Giovanni out of Professor Oak’s lab, leaving the Dex Holders to think about what happened.

“Silver, do you really think we can trust him?” Blue asked.

“Yes,” Silver replied. “He spent a long time looking for me. He also protected me even though he knew who I was. I don’t think he would have done that just so he could betray me now.”

Blue crossed her arms and closed her eyes as she began to think. After a moment of thought, she opened her eyes and looked at Silver.

“If you think that we can really trust him, then… We might be able to handle ShadowNet better than we initially thought.”

“What do you mean?” Red asked.

“Think about it. Our original plan was to weaken ShadowNet with constant raids to New Bark Town. But if we have Team Rocket on our side, then we can take New Bark Town and move on. Team Rocket will assist us in fighting ShadowNet and defending retaken cities.”

“If we can trust Giovanni,” Green added. “If he’s untrustworthy and we go with your plan, we’ll just be helping him take over Kanto and Johto.”

Blue glanced at Silver before she looked at Red and Green. “Right. I’ll see if I can spy on Giovanni in Viridian City, and see what he’s really up to. If anything happens to me, then you’ll know that Giovanni is up to something, and you can plan what to do. If he’s really not up to anything, then nothing bad would happen.” She looked at Green and smiled slightly. ‘ _And if something does bad happen to me, you can always come and save me…_ ’

Green looked at her and raised an eyebrow, wondering why she smiled like that. Blue avoided eye contact and rose to her feet.

“I’ll… get ready. Spying on the leader of Team Rocket without getting caught is not an easy task, you know.”

“Sis, I’ll go with you,” Silver said as he rose to his feet.

Blue shook her head. “No. If two people go, it’ll be easier to get caught. I’ll go alone.”

“But…” Silver tried to object, but Blue signaled him to be quiet.

“Silver, I can take care of myself. And relax; nothing’s going to happen to me.”

“Be careful, Blue,” said Professor Oak. “We’ll need the information you gather to plan our next move.” He looked at all of the other Dex Holders. “This has been a long day so far. I want all of you to rest and prepare yourselves for the beginning of a long fight against ShadowNet.”

…

Later that day, 7 pm…

…

The Dex Holders gathered around the living room in Green’s house, except those on dinner duty, who were around the kitchen and the dinner table. The Viridian Gym Leader didn’t like the idea of having every Dex Holder in his house, but somehow, Blue had managed to convince everyone to invade his house. It was also decided (by Blue) that every Dex Holder will sleep at their team leader’s house. Blue’s team, however, had to sleep in Professor Oak’s lab, as the girl’s house was too far away. Yellow was to sleep in the lab as well, as she wasn’t in any team.

Currently, every Dex Holder except Blue was in Green’s house, as Blue had left for Viridian an hour ago. Out of the remaining 12 Dex Holders, Crystal, Diamond, Platinum, Ruby, and Sapphire have been selected to be on dinner duty.

“Why am I on dinner duty?” Crystal grumbled as she carried a large tray covered with dishes. “Gold’s supposed to doing this…” She set the tray on the dinner table and started to set up the dishes. “GOLD! GET IN HERE!” she yelled all of a sudden.

“Crys, you’re not in the position to yell at me,” came the goggled boy’s voice from the living room. “Remember, because Proto-Gal didn’t get all the Kanto Gym Badges yet, you have to do whatever I tell you.”

“Stupid ShadowNet…” Crystal grumbled. “If only they attacked after Platinum finished traveling around Kanto…”

Half an hour later, dinner was complete and all the Dex Holders gathered around the dinner table. The table wasn’t big enough for all 12 Dex Holders, so some had to use miniature portable tables and trays.

During dinner, Ruby watched Sapphire closely. He noticed several unusual things about her. She kept looking at the clock and looked very guilty whenever Red talked to her. It appeared as if Sapphire was planning on doing something she considered to be disloyal to Red at a certain time. Perhaps she was trying to… …

Another thing Ruby noticed was that Sapphire didn’t talk to Platinum at all or even acknowledge her presence. She kept ignoring her to the point where the heiress no longer bothered to talk to her at all. Sapphire was obviously upset at the heiress about something, and Ruby decided that he needed to find out what.

…

3 hours later, 10:30 pm…

…

Green was sitting on the couch in his living room, thinking about the upcoming fight against ShadowNet. He wasn’t making much progress, as he wasn’t used to having so many people in his house. He almost jumped in surprise when his Pokégear started to vibrate. He pulled it out and noticed that he got a message from Blue, telling him to meet her outside.

The Viridian Gym Leader soon left his house and could see Blue waiting. She had her hair tied into a long ponytail and had her Silph Scope on around her forehead. She was wearing a rather skintight black T-shirt, black shorts that were almost as long as her usual skirt, and a pair of black gloves and shoes. She would’ve been pretty hard to spot in the dark, if it wasn’t for the fact that she left her legs bare.

“So you’re back?” Green asked.

Blue turned to look at him and adjusted her Silph Scope so it felt comfortable on her forehead.

“Yep. But what do you think?” she asked as she slowly spun around, showing off her new attire. She struck a slight pose at the end and looked at Green expectantly.

The Gym Leader rolled his eyes and sighed. “I think you’ll sneak into wherever you’re going much better if you wore proper pants.”

Blue crossed her arms. “But don’t you think I look better right now?”

“What do you want, Blue?” Green asked after another sigh.

Blue sighed too. “You’re no fun. Anyways, I found out where Giovanni went, but nothing else,” she started. “There really wasn’t much I could do in broad daylight.”

“So what did you find?”

“It turns out Giovanni has a hidden base in Viridian City,” Blue replied. “It’s below your Gym.”

“What?”

“Well, it used to be his Gym, so it makes sense. But the entrance isn’t in your Gym. I think he sealed off the entrance when he abandoned it. But the entrance is close. So I’m going over there right now.”

“So why did you want to see me? You would have called me if you just wanted to tell me what you found,” Green said.

Blue sighed. “I know… I wanted to see you because… I just wanted to see you,” she said honestly. “I mean… I am trying to infiltrate Team Rocket’s base. I might not make it back, and I wanted to see you one last time.”

“You’ll be fine, Blue,” Green said after a sigh. He shook his head and headed back into his house. “But do be careful. We all need you here,” he said just before he opened the door.

“Thanks Green,” Blue said rather quietly. “I’ll see you in the morning then…”

Meanwhile, Platinum approached Ruby, seeing how he wasn’t talking to anyone at the moment. The Hoenn Dex Holder was still lost in thought as he looked at Sapphire.

“Um… senior Ruby?” the heiress started nervously.

Ruby snapped out of his thoughts and looked at her. “Oh, hey. What is it?”

“I wanted to ask… do you know why senior Sapphire dislikes me?” Platinum asked rather sadly. “She was very nice to me before we left for New Bark Town, but after that mission, she seems to have developed an enmity towards me.”

“I… don’t know, actually,” Ruby replied. “But I noticed it too. I’ll try to find out why she doesn’t like you as fast as I can.”

“Please do,” Platinum said. “I am afraid that I may have accidentally insulted her. I would like to apologize, but she is ignoring me… Please help me…”

“I will.”

…

August 14th, 1:30 am, Red’s house…

…

Sapphire opened her eyes and quietly sat up. She took a look around the room and spotted Gold snoring on the couch and Platinum sleeping quietly on the floor on the opposite side of the room. Satisfied that she was the only one awake, Sapphire quietly rose to her feet and headed towards the door. She put her shoes on while constantly looking back and forth between her two team members asleep in the living room. She didn’t want anyone to see her leave… what she was doing was a sort of a betrayal, after all…

Sapphire quietly opened the door and took 7 steps out of Red’s house before she stopped. She turned around and right beside the closing door, she could see Ruby leaning against the wall with his arms crossed.

“Ruby? What are you doing here?” Sapphire asked.

“Knowing you, I’m surprised that you managed to stay this long,” he said quietly as he slowly approached her. ‘ _I waited out here for two hours!_ ’ “I knew that you would attempt to go to Hoenn since earlier today. Well, yesterday, I guess.”

“If you knew, then you know you should stay out of my way,” Sapphire said as she turned away.

“Sapphire, I know you really want to go to Hoenn to avenge your coach. But you can’t leave right now.”

“Why?!” the girl demanded angrily as she turned to glare at him. “Why are you stopping me?!”

“If you go right now, you’ll suffer the same fate as your coach. Think about it, Sapphire. This ShadowNet has taken over the entire region of Hoenn and the Pokémon Association is hiding, waiting for a chance to strike back. If you go over there right now, you’ll be all alone. Without a way to contact the Pokémon Association, you’ll have no help whatsoever. You’ll eventually be captured… or killed.”

“I… I know that I’ll be at a huge disadvantage,” Sapphire started. “But… they killed Coach… If the same thing happened to Wallace, what would you do?”

“I’d probably do what you’re doing,” Ruby replied without much thought. “But I know that you would do what I’m doing.”

Sapphire looked at Ruby in the eyes. “How… how would you know?”

“It’s natural to stop someone from doing something very dangerous if you really care for them.”

The girl remained silent for a few seconds. She shook her head and turned away again. “I… I can take care of myself,” she said, her voice shaking. “I need to avenge Coach.”

“No one’s saying that you shouldn’t.” Ruby slowly walked around her. He put a hand on her shoulder and looked at her in the eyes. “But you need to calm down. Listen, I know that you can’t stand knowing Hoenn is in danger. But if you go over there right now, what would that accomplish? Stay here. We’ll eliminate all of ShadowNet in Johto before we move on to Hoenn. But without you, we won’t be able to clear Johto quickly. We all need you here; especially your team members.”

Sapphire suddenly sighed. “No, they don’t really need me.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Red, Gold, rookie… they don’t need me here. They’re perfectly fine without me.”

“No they’re not. I don’t know about Gold, but I know that Red and Platinum need you in their team. Red needs another competent battler and Platinum needs someone she can look up to; a role model, if you will,” Ruby said calmly.

“Gold’s good at fighting, and Red even trained with him before. And as for rookie, she looks up to Red more than me. Besides, Red and Gold seems more focused on taking care of rookie than anything else.”

‘ _Oh, is that why she’s been ignoring Platinum?_ ’ Ruby carefully picked what he would say so that it would affect Sapphire the most. “Sapphire, you can’t be jealous because Platinum seems to be closer to Red than you are. As her seniors, we have to take care of her. That’s what Red’s doing. He’s making sure that she feels comfortable and not rejected. And listen. He’s 7 years older than Platinum. She needs someone closer to her age that she can look up to. She has nothing but respect for what the other Dex Holders did, including your accomplishments. And think about how you’ve been treating her. She’s afraid that she accidentally insulted you. She’s really hurt, you know. We’ve all been with her for a few days now, so you should know that she’s _extremely_ sensitive of what her seniors think of her. You are her senior. You can’t be jealous of her.”

Sapphire sighed and closed her eyes as she began to think. ‘ _He’s right… how could I have treated her like that? Oh, I feel terrible…_ ’ “You’re right. I shouldn’t be jealous at all. I’m going to apologize to her first thing in the morning. And hey, maybe rookie and I will be able to train together like Red and Gold.”

“That’s it. Just like that. I’m sure she’ll be more than willing to train with you.”

Sapphire took a deep breath. “Thanks Ruby. Thanks for stopping me from doing something reckless, and thanks for letting me see how childish I’ve been.” She looked into his eyes, waiting for the right answer. “But… how long do you think I’ll have to wait to avenge Coach?”

“It won’t be too long. I promise,” Ruby assured with a smile. “And when the time comes, we’ll avenge your coach together. But until that time comes, I want you to promise me that you won’t try to go off to Hoenn all by yourself.”

“I promise,” Sapphire said. She was being sincere, but Ruby decided that he needed additional guarantees.

“Good. But if you do try to go to Hoenn all by yourself, I’ll have to follow you.”

Sapphire froze. “What?”

“I can’t have you doing something so reckless all by yourself. If you try to go to Hoenn, I’ll have to go with you to make sure that nothing happens to you.”

“But… our seniors will really need your help.”

“I know. But you are more important to me than all of the other Dex Holders put together,” Ruby said as he slowly turned away. He headed back towards the lab with his hands in his pockets. “Just remember that, Sapphire.”

Sapphire couldn’t help but smile as she watched Ruby walk away. “Thanks Ruby. I promise I won’t go to Hoenn by myself.”

She soon got lost in thought. It appeared that the feelings Ruby had were mutual. She knew that if Ruby tried to go to Hoenn all by himself, she would be there to stop him and try to convince him. And if that failed, she knew that she would probably go with him to ensure that nothing bad happened to him. She was relieved to know that he really cared for her, as much as she cared for him.

With a bright smile, Sapphire headed back into her senior’s house. She still had a lot to think about, such as how she had been jealous of Platinum and how childish that was. She promised to herself that starting in the morning (or in one minute, if the heiress woke up), she would take better care of her junior.

…

Meanwhile…

…

L: Did we get the prisoner’s brother yet?

D: No, sir. We still don’t know who it is we’re after. We did find one _really_ strong trainer in Lilycove City. He avoided us for two days after we initially found him, but when we finally caught up to him, he destroyed several of our squads single handedly and caused an uprising in the city before he escaped. Some of the Hoenn Gym Leaders helped in his escape and vanished as well. We haven’t a clue as to where they went.

L: … Well, that’s nice. All you morons managed to do was give this really strong trainer a reason to be hostile to us when he otherwise would’ve remained neutral.

D: Uh… yes.

L: And our Sinnoh group got utterly destroyed. And those Dex Holders successfully raided New Bark Town and seems to have gotten whatever they wanted. So… all of our initial plans have gone very well, but all of the plans that followed have failed miserably. And now, we have the Johto and Hoenn Gym Leaders waiting to strike at our forces from behind, and the Dex Holders preparing to take us on headfirst. And Sinnoh is completely out of our reach now. If our enemies in Sinnoh try to help those in Kanto and Johto, we’re doomed.

D: Yes sir. We’re at a disadvantage.

L: We’ll need some help. See if we can contact the executives from previous teams. Team Rocket Admins, Galactic Commanders, and the likes. They have some experience in fighting Gym Leaders and Dex Holders. Their assistance would be invaluable. As for Sinnoh… Get Project 05-032 activated as soon as possible. But perfect it first. If it backfires, we’ll be screwed. If Project 05-032 works as it’s supposed to, then Sinnoh, Johto, and the Sevii Islands will not be of any concern.

D: But what about the Dex Holders who are planning to strike us right now?

L: We’ll strike them first. In the morning, we are going to send every squad we have in our Johto and main HQs and send them straight to Pallet Town of Kanto. It’s time we launched a full scale assault.

* * *

**The Dex Holder KIA/MIA list will be posted again when someone is actually killed or goes missing.**


	14. SA-I 1 The Armory

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Expecting SA #014? That chapter has been delayed. Instead, here is part 1 of 4 intermissions for SA (SA-I). The 4 intermission chapters put together forms a mini-story that takes place in the SA world. It’s completely irrelevant to the main story, so whatever happens there doesn’t affect this and vice-versa.  
> Partial Setting: September 14th. The only city still under ShadowNet control is Goldenrod City. Every Dex Holder is in Goldenrod City to wipe out the remnants of ShadowNet.

Intermission Part 1: The Armory

The Johto ShadowNet commander watched from his office as the Dex Holders raided the HQ building. The ShadowNet grunts were fleeing without even putting up a resistance. 4 Dex Holders were waiting outside the building along with a bunch of Gym Leaders, capturing every fleeing grunt nearby. Realizing that there was no escape, the Johto commander headed straight towards the armory.

In the first floor, Gold, Sapphire, and Green were busy breaking open door by door, looking for the ShadowNet commander.

Sapphire thoroughly searched a room and found nothing except for a cowering grunt trying to hide in a locker. She quickly ran over to the grunt and yanked him out of the locker.

“All right you, where’s your boss?” she demanded.

“I – I don’t know!” the grunt cried out.

Gold entered the room and seeing the grunt, withdrew his billiard cue. He pointed the cue at the grunt’s throat. “You should _probably_ tell her what you know.”

The grunt swallowed nervously. “U – Upstairs… near the armory…”

“Where’s the armory?”

“Top floor.”

“Why’s the armory on the top floor?”

“Bad room and building planning,” the grunt replied. “There’s only one washroom in this entire building too.”

Gold shrugged and slammed his cue on the grunt’s head before heading out of the room. Sapphire followed her senior. Outside, she could see Platinum and Green waiting.

“A grunt said that the commander was upstairs near the armory,” Sapphire said. “So let’s go!”

As the Dex Holders climbed towards the top floor, the Johto commander ran back and forth between the armory and the main supply storage room (which was next to the armory), trying to fix a machine that would let him escape capture.

“Those damn lazy grunts!” the commander yelled. “They never finished fixing this damn inter-dimensional portal!” He looked back and forth between the portal and the blueprints. “Who would’ve thought that fixing an inter-dimensional portal would be so difficult?”

On the ground floor, Red, Blue, Silver, Crystal, and Ruby gathered while Yellow, Emerald, Diamond, and Pearl waited outside the ShadowNet HQ, helping the Johto Gym Leaders in maintaining a tight perimeter.

Blue looked at the gathered Dex Holders. “Okay… Crys and I will go up to the top floor and see if there’s anything worth finding in the commander’s office. The rest of you, stay here and try to capture as many of the ShadowNet members as possible.”

Red and the others nodded, and Blue and Crystal headed to the stairs. Taking the elevators was risky as ShadowNet could easily shut the power and trap them inside.

10 minutes later, Green, Gold, Sapphire, and Platinum reached the top floor. The Viridian Gym Leader left the stairwell and looked around for the armory while his juniors tried to catch their breaths. Within a minute, the other 3 Dex Holders joined Green in looking around.

Within a few minutes, Blue and Crystal arrived at the top floor and joined the other Dex Holders in searching for the armory. Soon, Sapphire found something. She could see someone in a uniform very distinct from all the ShadowNet grunts quickly running down the halls.

“There! Over there!” Sapphire yelled. “The ShadowNet commander is running!” She looked back at Platinum. “Rookie, come to me!”

The heiress and her Empoleon quickly jogged towards her senior. Behind the Emperor Pokémon, Green, Blue, Gold, and Crystal followed. Sapphire kicked a door open just as Green and his Scizor arrived right behind her.

The Dex Holders could see a man pushing several buttons on a giant circular machine. The ShadowNet commander saw the Dex Holders and hastily pressed more buttons.

“Stop!” Green ordered. The commander pressed a big red button on the machine.

The light in the room started to flicker as the giant machine powered up. A big ball of energy started to form in the center of the circular machine.

“So long, suckers!” the ShadowNet commander yelled before he jumped into the ball of energy.

Much to the Dex Holders’ surprise, the commander vanished in a flash of light. The machine had clearly created a portal of some sort… The Dex Holders simply stared at the circular machine, not knowing what to do. Green cleared his throat.

“All right then. Gold, Sapphire, you’re with me,” he started. He turned to look at Platinum. “Platinum, with Blue and Crystal, find out where this portal leads, and how to reverse it. We’re going in after the commander.”

“Green, I’m going with you,” Blue said. “Crys and Platinum, you two go find the commander’s office and see if you can find anything relevant to this portal.”

“Wait, you’re all going in there?” Crystal asked Gold and the others. “But you don’t know where this thing leads.”

“Relax, Crys,” Gold said with a smile. “This is a risk worth taking. That commander guy went in, so he probably knows how to get out.”

“Well… be careful,” Crystal said as she looked at Gold.

The goggled boy winked at her before he stepped into the portal and vanished. Green put his hands in his pockets and followed. Sapphire took a deep breath and entered the portal. Blue looked at Crystal and Platinum.

“Remember, this portal could lead to somewhere that has no way out. You two need to find out where exactly this thing goes, and see if there’s a way to reverse it. I’m counting on you two.”

“Yes, senior. We shall try our absolute best,” Platinum said with a worried expression. “Please be careful.”

Blue took a nervous breath and with her eyes closed, she entered the portal. She instantly felt… cold… very cold… and nauseous. She felt as if a strong electric current was running through her body. Blue had been zapped by Red’s Pikachu a few times in the past (most of which were accidents), and going through the portal felt very similar to being in the receiving end of a low-powered Thunderbolt. After what felt like an eternity, the coldness vanished and she felt a wave of heat as she exited the portal.

She was in freefall for a whole second before she hit the ground hard, face down. It turned out that the exit-portal was a few meters above the ground…

“Ungh…”

“Blue? You okay?” came Green’s voice.

She forced her eyes to open and tried to push herself off the ground. Having failed, she looked over to the side where she could see Green standing tall, looking around.

“Ugh… Care to help me?” she asked after a pained gasp.

Green looked at her and after a second, extended a hand. Blue reached for his hand, but she couldn’t reach. As a result, Green had to reach down and grab her hand. He quickly pulled her up and she managed to get up to her feet.

Blue tried to shake away the nausea and focus on the task at hand. She noticed that she was in a city of some sort.

“Thanks Green. Do you know where we are?” she asked.

“No,” Green replied.

Gold and Sapphire also had no idea where they were. They simply looked at their seniors, hoping that the older Dex Holders knew what to do. After a few seconds of silence, Sapphire made a suggestion.

“Maybe we should look for that commander from the sky.”

Green nodded. “Good idea.” He sent out his Charizard and hopped on. The other three Dex Holders sent out their aerial transport Pokémon and the four Dex Holders soared up high. From her Wigglytuff, Blue examined the city below.

“You know, this place looks awfully like Goldenrod City…” she said.

Gold looked down at the city below. “Hey, you’re right. There’s the Game Corner over there.”

“There’s the Magnet Train station,” Green said, pointing at a building. “And the Gym’s over there.”

“But… we were just in Goldenrod,” Sapphire said. “And I don’t remember seeing this many trees or houses.” She looked at the city below and soon spotted something. “There he is!”

Green looked at where Sapphire pointed and spotted the ShadowNet commander running while occasionally glancing backwards. “All right then. Blue, stay up here and follow him. Gold, chase him. Sapphire, go ahead of him.”

On the ground, the ShadowNet commander started to slow down. As far as he could tell, no one was following him. He smiled at his successful escape from the Dex Holders. Now all he had to do was create a portal that led back to his dimension.

But to his surprise, when he turned a corner, he ran into a Dex Holder. He didn’t know her name (and didn’t care either), but she was the girl with the white hat, scarf, the short skirt, and boots. Before the girl could do anything, the commander roughly pushed her down to the ground and started to run away.

But before he took a few steps in that direction, he could see a Mantine flying straight towards him with the goggled Dex Holder ‘riding’ it. The ShadowNet commander immediately started to run in a different direction. But a Tropius landed on the ground a few meters in front of him, and another Dex Holder got off. Before long, the ShadowNet commander found himself surrounded by four Dex Holders and their Pokémon.

The commander reached into his pocket. He _could_ try to fight his way out. He _could_ beat a Dex Holder if he had 6 Pokémon and the Dex Holder only had one (that wasn’t at full health). But at the moment, trying to fight through four Dex Holders at once would be… suicide. With a sigh, the commander dropped to his knees and raised his hands in the air.

Green saw the commander trying to surrender and looked at Sapphire. Upon meeting her gaze, the Viridian Gym Leader pointed at the commander. The girl nodded and approached the commander. She pushed him down to the ground and placed her knee on his back to prevent him from doing anything. She then reached into her bag and pulled out a long vine (which she always carries around) and used it to tie the commander’s wrists together.

Blue gently landed on the ground and approached the commander. Sapphire lifted him back up to his knees and held him so he wouldn’t do anything.

“Okay, so where are we?” Blue asked. “You made a portal that led to a different dimension, and we followed you through that portal. So where are we?”

“I don’t know,” the commander replied truthfully. “I was in a hurry to get the portal to work and I didn’t really set a specific destination.”

“Then how do we go back to our dimension?” Green asked as he stood beside Blue.

“I don’t know,” the commander replied not-so-truthfully. Gold noticed that he was lying and poked him roughly in the back with his billiard cue. “Okay, okay… There _is_ a way to go back… But we need to build that portal again.” Again, Gold noticed that the commander was lying and poked him harder. “Okay! I can recreate that portal…”

“Sapphire, search him,” Blue ordered.

Sapphire did as told and before long, found a small device in the commander’s pocket. It looked like a pen of some sort with a button on the end.

“Press that button and throw in on the ground,” the commander said.

Sapphire pressed the button and threw it far away, in case it was an explosive. But the pen-like thing did absolutely nothing. The ShadowNet commander appeared confused. Gold poked him again.

“That did nothing. Stop lying and start talking,” the goggled boy ordered.

“I’m not lying. That is a portable inter-dimensional portal generator. As long as the actual machine in our dimension is working, this thing should create a small portal back to our dimension.”

…

Meanwhile, Platinum and Crystal had shut off the inter-dimensional portal, as the machine was pretty loud and it was _really_ getting annoying. The two Dex Holders needed complete focus if they were to find out where the machine led and if there was a way to reverse it.

Currently, Emerald, Diamond, and Pearl were searching through the Johto commander’s office to see if they can find any relevant information, while Crystal and Platinum were searching the armory for plans or blueprints for the portal.

…

Green crossed his arms and started to think. He looked at the ShadowNet commander. “Okay, if you are telling the truth, then we’ll have to wait until that portal generator starts working. Until then, we need to find somewhere to stay.”

Blue looked at Gold. “Gold, keep an eye on him,” she said, pointing at the ShadowNet commander. “Sapphire, come with me. We’re going to look for a place to stay.”

She got back onto her Wigglytuff and waited for Sapphire to get on her Tropius. The two girls flew up high and headed towards the Pokémon Center. No one had any money, so trying to find the Goldenrod hotel was pointless. But as they neared the Pokémon Center, they saw something strange…

“Hey, what the… is that Platinum down there?” Blue asked as she looked down at the ground below. She squinted to try to get a better look.

Sapphire looked down and instantly looked surprised. “What’s rookie doing here? I thought she stayed behind…” Since she had much better eye sight, she noticed something else. “I don’t think that’s rookie. She looks… different.”

The two Dex Holders quickly descended. As they descended, something odd happened. The door to the Pokémon Center opened and someone came out and approached the Platinum lookalike. But that person was…

“Whoa… Hey, Sapphire, that girl looks like you!” Blue muttered. “Only with different colored clothes.”

“What the hell?” Sapphire muttered. “That… was actually what I was wearing during the Groudon and Kyogre incident…”

“Do you think this is just some girl who happened to wear the same clothes as you?”

“That’s… not possible. Ruby _made_ those clothes for me…”

The two Dex Holders quickly descended and landed near the Platinum and Sapphire lookalikes. The two lookalikes looked at them, surprised at the sudden landing. They looked very surprised upon seeing Sapphire.

Sapphire hopped off of her Tropius and approached her lookalike while Blue approached the Platinum lookalike.

“Whoa… this is so weird…” the Sapphire lookalike muttered.

The voice was quite different compared to Sapphire’s, Blue noticed. The lookalike’s voice was also quite high pitched, but had softness and elegance like a songstress. Her voice was also rather gentle, kind of like an older sister’s. It was possible and quite probable that she had a younger sibling. In contrast, Sapphire’s voice was… completely devoid of elegance, and rather… rough.

Blue rubbed the back of her neck. “How should I explain this?” She pulled out her Pokégear and called Green. “Green, this is Blue. Come over to the Pokémon Center as soon as you can. Bring the commander. We found something… weird.” She then looked at the two lookalikes. “I’m Blue from Pallet Town of Kanto, and this is Sapphire from Littleroot Town of Hoenn.”

“Wait, Pallet Town of Kanto?” the Sapphire lookalike asked. “A very close friend of mine is also from Pallet Town. Maybe you’ve heard of him.”

“I _seriously_ doubt that,” Sapphire said.

“Really? He almost won multiple Pokémon Leagues,” the Platinum lookalike said. “He beat the Battle Frontier and collected every Gym Badge from Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh.”

Sapphire didn’t look impressed in the slightest. “My senior actually _won_ the Pokémon League on his first try, a friend of mine conquered the Battle Frontier within 7 days, and my junior conquered the Sinnoh Gyms in less than 40 days while dealing with an evil team at the same time. That friend of yours is nothing compared to them.” She was about to add something when Blue stopped her.

“Sapphire, arguing with people from another dimension isn’t going to help us in the slightest.”

“Right…” Sapphire looked at her lookalike and rubbed the back of her neck. “Sorry… I got a little carried away…”

The door to the Pokémon Center opened and two people appeared. One of them had a vest that looked similar to Diamond’s and had a Pikachu on his shoulder. The other… appeared like the Gym Leader of Pewter City.

“Hey, Haruka, who are you talking to?” asked the boy with the Pikachu.

Upon seeing Blue, the Brock lookalike instantly kneeled in front of her and grabbed her hands.

“Oh, beautiful lady, would you please tell me your name? And while you’re at it, how about we go on a date?”

Blue tried to pull her hands back, but the Brock lookalike was holding on tight. She rolled her eyes and looked at Sapphire. The Hoenn Dex Holder understood and with her foot, forcefully pushed the Brock lookalike away.

“Hey,” the boy with the Pikachu started, looking at Sapphire. “You look like Haruka…”

At that time, Green and Gold arrived, dragging the ShadowNet commander behind them.

“Hey, that’s the guy who pushed me!” the Platinum lookalike yelled, pointing at the ShadowNet commander. But seeing him tied up, she looked rather confused. She looked at the two Dex Holders curiously. “Um… who are you two, and what’s going on?”

Blue noticed that the Platinum lookalike’s voice was quite different than Platinum’s as well. The heiress’s voice was high pitched, yet soft, quiet, and very feminine and elegant. The lookalike’s didn’t have as much elegance, and was rather loud in comparison.

“All right, Blue,” the Viridian Gym Leader started. “Why did you call me here?”

“Hey, Shigeru! What are you doing here?” asked the boy with the Pikachu.

Blue glanced at Green and then looked at the Sapphire and Platinum lookalikes. Green looked at them for a second before he looked at Blue. “Blue, we’re at an alternate dimension. It’s only inevitable that we run into this dimension’s versions of Sapphire and Platinum.”

Blue girl sighed. “Can’t you show _some_ reaction?”

Gold looked at the Sapphire lookalike. He let out a low whistle as he looked at her from head to toe. “Is it just me, or is she a little… _bigger_ than Wildchild Girl?”

Sapphire simply stood with a blank expression, as she didn’t understand what her senior meant. Blue sighed. Seeing how Crystal wasn’t there, she smacked the goggled boy in the back of the head.

“Ow…” Gold and Blue muttered at the same time.

Blue rubbed her hand. The goggled boy’s head was quite… hard, like a rock… Well, it made sense. Gold was an idiot at times. The Sapphire lookalike looked a little insulted, but seeing how the goggled boy got smacked on the back of the head, she let it slide.

“Shigeru, stop ignoring me!” yelled the boy with the Pikachu.

Green glanced at him for a second before he looked at Blue. “Perhaps you should get on with the explanations so there isn’t any confusion.”

“Right…”

Blue looked at the two lookalikes and the boy with the Pikachu and began explaining. During the explanation (which left out the introduction), the ShadowNet commander attempted to flee. Sapphire noticed the attempt and quickly put a stop to it with a well placed punch to the face.

“So… how do you get back to your dimension?” the Sapphire lookalike asked after Blue finished explaining.

“Well… once Crys and Platinum reactivate the portal generator, the portable device we have should create a portal back to our dimension,” Blue replied.

“Now that that’s out of the way, let’s get going,” Green said to Blue. He signaled Sapphire to carry the ShadowNet commander and tossed the portable portal generator to Gold.

“Hey, wait! You can’t leave yet!” said the boy with the Pikachu. “Let’s have a battle! I never battled anyone that came from a different dimension before.”

“We don’t have time,” Green said rather coldly.

The Brock lookalike kneeled in front of Blue and grabbed her hands once more. “Oh, beautiful lady, please don’t tell me you’re leaving!”

Green glanced at the Brock lookalike and looked at Blue. Blue met his gaze and clenched her teeth. With a fake smile, she looked at the Brock lookalike.

“I’m sorry, what was your name again?” she asked rather nicely.

“My name is Takeshi. Could you please tell me your name?”

“Right… Takeshi,” Blue started with a warm smile. But in a blink of an eye, her warm smile vanished and was replaced with a cold glare. “Don’t touch me,” she said through clenched teeth.

She pulled her hands back from Takeshi during the time he was stunned at the sudden change in her expression. She then walked away and Gold and Sapphire followed.

“Hey, come on!” said the Sapphire lookalike. “You said that Satoshi was nothing compared to your friends. Let’s see a battle!”

“Yeah! Pikachu and I can take you on!” said the boy named Satoshi.

Sapphire turned around and was about to say something when she suddenly stopped… A large mechanical hand suddenly shot out of nowhere and grabbed the Pikachu on Satoshi’s shoulder.

“Team Rocket!” the Platinum lookalike yelled.

Blue turned around at the mention of Team Rocket but soon shook away the shock. ‘ _Well… I guess this dimension has its own Team Rocket…_ ’

Green glanced back and could see a large Meowth shaped hot air balloon floating above the boy named Satoshi.

“Hey! Give Pikachu back, Team Rocket!” Satoshi yelled.

“Green?” Sapphire started. “Should we help them?”

“This is not our problem,” the Viridian Gym Leader replied.

“But it does give us a chance to show the guys in this dimension what we’re capable of,” Gold said. “I think one of us should help them.”

Blue looked at her two juniors. “So you two want to help?” she asked. Her two juniors nodded. “In that case, have a game of rock-paper-scissors. Winner gets to take care of this problem.”

Satoshi looked over at Gold and Sapphire, wondering why they weren’t helping. He was surprised to see the two playing a game of rock-paper-scissors… Gold drew scissors while Sapphire drew rock.

“Ah, damn it!” the goggled boy yelled out.

Sapphire grinned and pumped her fist in the air. “Rock beats scissors!”

“Best two of three!” Gold yelled.

This time, the goggled boy drew paper and Sapphire drew rock. The girl simply punched her senior’s palm. “Rock beats paper!”

“Ow! Hey, that’s cheating!”

Gold clenched his teeth and drew rock. Sapphire also drew rock (again). The girl grinned and slammed her fist into her senior’s. “Rock beats everything! Ha, I can do this all day!”

“… You win…” Gold grumbled out as he massaged his sore hand.

Sapphire sent out her Donphan and looked at the hot air balloon high in the air. She got her Donphan to use Rollout and jumped on top of it. Just like she did at Mt. Chimney several years ago, she used the Donphan’s Rollout to throw herself high in the air, towards the hot air balloon.

The two Team Rocket members (and their Meowth) looked very surprised when Sapphire grabbed onto their hot air balloon. Before they could do anything, the girl slugged one of them in the face and grabbed the taken Pikachu. She tossed it out of the balloon and jumped off after it.

“She’s crazy!” the Sapphire lookalike yelled out.

Sapphire threw the Pokéball containing her Blaziken at the ground below.

“Blast Burn!” she ordered, pointing at the Meowth shaped balloon.

The Blaziken saw its target and once its trainer was out of the way, unleashed its ultimate move. Sapphire hit the ground and rolled to lessen the impact. She got to her feet and tossed the Pikachu to its owner. She looked up and saw the Blast Burn hit and utterly destroy the Meowth shaped balloon. The balloon exploded and sent the occupants flying into the air.

Gold looked as the three occupants of the balloon flew far, far away. “So… what happens to them?”

“They’ll be back,” the Platinum lookalike said.

“How do you know?” Blue asked.

“Because they’ve done so around 800 times already,” Satoshi replied as he put his Pikachu back on his shoulder. “They try to steal Pikachu and sometimes other Pokémon once every now and then. We always end up battling and they always end up being blasted away like that.”

The Dex Holders simply looked at each other. The idea of the same group of people making 800 attempts at stealing a Pikachu seemed… _very_ odd to them.

“Thanks for helping us,” the Sapphire lookalike said with a bow. “We haven’t properly introduced ourselves… My name is Haruka.”

“I’m Hikari,” said the Platinum lookalike.

Blue looked at Green, expecting him to introduce himself. But the Viridian Gym Leader simply turned away.

“Well… he’s Green,” she said with a sigh, pointing at the Viridian Gym Leader.

“And I’m Gold from New Bark Town,” said Gold, resting his arms on his billiard cue across his shoulders.

“Your Blaziken is really strong,” Haruka said to Sapphire. “Mine’s strong too, but I don’t think it’s that strong…”

“You have a Blaziken too?” Sapphire asked. “Right… I guess you’re supposed to be me in this dimension… Say, how many Gym Badges do you have?”

“I don’t have any. I’m aiming to be the best Coordinator,” Haruka replied.

“Coordinator?”

“You know, participating in Pokémon Contests,” Hikari said from the side.

Sapphire groaned. “Never mind… You’re like Ruby… Who’s your dad?”

“My dad’s the Gym Leader of Petalburg City,” Haruka said rather proudly.

“… You _are_ the Ruby of this dimension…”

“Hey, how about we battle?” Satoshi asked from behind abruptly. “You must be really strong. I want to battle you right now!”

“I’ll take this one,” Gold said as he looked at Sapphire. “You got to deal with that Team Rocket group, so this guy’s mine.”

“Fine,” Sapphire grumbled.

“Great! Wait here then. I’m going to go and get my strongest Pokémon!” Satoshi yelled. He headed back into the Pokémon Center, and Gold began to stretch and prepare for battle.

But then, something started to make beeping sounds from Green’s pocket. The Viridian Gym Leader reached in his pocket and withdrew the portable portal generator. He looked at the ShadowNet commander (who had been simply sitting on the ground, watching the whole conversation).

“What’s this sound?”

“That is the sound it makes when the portal generator in our dimension restarts,” the commander replied. “Meaning, if you press that button and throw it a few meters away, it would create a portal back to our dimension.”

“Finally,” Green said. He pushed the button on the portable portal generator and threw it roughly 10 meters away. Upon hitting the ground, the device emitted a single beep before it created a big portal directly above it. “All right then. Let’s go back home.”

* * *

**Yes. The SA intermission story is a crossover with the anime. Don’t like it? Don’t worry, this is only 4 chapters long, has no story relevance, and won’t be uploaded consecutively. Do like it? Well… it’s planned to be short, _will_ be short, and… you’ll have to wait until the next intermission to find out what happens next. Sorry.**

**Note: the 4 people from the anime world will have their names in Japanese and refer to characters in Japanese because that’s what I’m used to, and to better distinguish since the non-Dex Holders share the same name as the game and thus anime counterparts.**

* * *

What Could Have Been:

Green sighed and looked at Satoshi. “You are an idiot.”

“What?”

“That Team Rocket attacked you 800 times already, and yet you’ve been caught off guard. Meaning, you’ve been caught off guard by the same type of ambush from the same people 800 times. And the very first thing you said when they tried to take your Pikachu was “give Pikachu back”. What exactly makes you think they’ll give it back when they didn’t for the past 800 times?”


	15. Tip of the Spear

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Intermission Part 2 will NOT be uploaded directly after Part 1. It will appear at the most inconvenient time later on.

Chapter 14: Tip of the Spear

August 14th, 2:30 am…

Blue quietly approached a strange building in Viridian City. It was the building that Giovanni had entered the previous day. She knew that entering the building from the front door was… stupid. So she circled around, looking for an alternate entrance. Soon, she found a possible entrance from behind the building. On the 5th floor, she could see a slightly open window that led to a room whose lights were off. Blue looked around that window and spotted a drainage pipe several windows away.

Blue sighed. “Why didn’t I get Sapphire to do this?”

She approached the drainage pipe and gently shook it. It didn’t budge and thus didn’t make a sound. She grabbed onto it and began to climb up. 7 minutes later, she got to the 5th floor and managed to grab onto the windowsill right beside the drainage pipe. She glanced down and could see the ground _far_ below. She shook away the regret and fear and continued to slowly inch her way towards the open window.

Blue carefully raised herself so that she could look through the window she was holding onto. She could see two people sitting by a desk, talking to each other. She placed a small sound transmitter on the window so that she could hear the conversation inside.

“… you think about the boss’s decision?”

“I think he made a good decision. I mean… those kids are tough. If we end up working with them, who knows what we can do!”

Blue retrieved the sound transmitter and continued to her target window. Her arms were really aching… so she had to get there quickly.

After 5 more minutes, Blue finally arrived at her target window. The lights were off inside, so she carefully lowered her Silph Scope and looked inside. To her surprise, she could see Sabrina sitting on a chair, facing the wall opposite to the window. Her ominous presence sent shivers down Blue’s spine.

‘ _Sabrina? What’s she doing here?_ ’

\ \ _Waiting for you to come._ \ \

The Saffron Gym Leader rose to her feet and faced the window. With a flick of a finger, the window opened as wide as possible. She stood in front and looked at Blue with her arms crossed.

\ \ _I’ve been waiting for you._ \ \

Blue simply looked at Sabrina. “… Well, isn’t this embarrassing… Why are you here? If you knew I was coming, then wouldn’t you have posted a bunch of Rocket grunts here?”

“The boss is being honest when he said that he’ll be helping you,” Sabrina started. “But I knew that you would be suspicious. So, to prove to you that we’re not going to betray you, I’m letting you infiltrate our base. We have nothing to hide.”

“How do I know that this isn’t a trick?” Blue asked.

Sabrina took a step backwards and extended a hand as if she was choking something invisible. Blue could feel some kind of invisible hand choking her… just like Deoxys did to her a few years ago. The girl was forced to let go of the windowsill and reached for her throat. The Saffron Gym Leader kept her in the air with the same psychic force she was using to choke her.

“If we were actually planning to betray you later on, I could just let you drop to your death here and make it look like an accident,” Sabrina said with a rather scary expression. With a smirk, she released Blue and the Kanto Dex Holder only had a fraction of a second to grab onto the windowsill again. Sabrina turned away and sent out her Alakazam. “The boss doesn’t know I’m here. I didn’t tell anyone about you coming. Don’t get caught.”

With Alakazam’s Teleport, the Saffron Gym Leader vanished and Blue was able to climb through the window. Once she was inside, she felt around her throat as she thought about what Sabrina told her.

‘ _She could’ve just told me to trust her instead of going all psychic on me…_ ’ Blue thought miserably.

She slowly got back up to her feet and silently moved towards the door. She switched the settings on her Silph Scope to thermal to see if there was anyone on the opposite side of the door. Relieved to know that there was no one there, she opened the door very slightly and stuck a small optic cable in the opening. She didn’t see anyone at all so she opened the door wider and snuck out.

As Blue carefully and silently crept past shut doors and empty hallways, she heard a distinctive sound of a computer turning on. She quickly pressed herself against the dark wall and with her Silph Scope, scanned the area. She didn’t find anyone though…

‘ _How odd…_ ’

Blue switched the settings on her Silph Scope to detect electronics and scanned the area. Soon, she could see the shape of a computer from a room to her side. She switched the settings on her Silph Scope back to thermal and checked the door. She opened the door slightly and stuck the optic cable in the gap, but she still couldn’t see anyone.

Blue shook away the odd feeling and opened the door. The room was dark, with the only source of light being the computer’s monitor. She carefully approached the computer, wondering why and how the thing turned on when absolutely no one was nearby. With her Silph Scope, she scanned around again. But still, she found no one.

She raised the Silph Scope and looked at the monitor. She could see that the screen was rather distorted… Suddenly, the screen flickered and went black. Random letters started appearing on screen and moved up. The screen flickered again and all the random letters vanished. A new coherent message started form…

/ /“CALLING ALL ROCKET MEMBERS. WE ARE GIVING YOU A CHANCE OF JOIN US AND TAKE OVER THE WORLD. WE ARE GOING TO ATTACK PALLET TOWN IN FULL FORCE IN THE MORNING OF AUGUST 14. IF YOU ARE GOING TO HELP US, DO SO BY ATTACKING THE DEX HOLDERS FROM BEHIND.”/ /

Blue froze. So ShadowNet was coming to Pallet Town in a few hours… But more surprisingly, how and why did the message appear on screen in the first place? The text on the screen faded away and a new message started to appear.

/ / FRAGMENT 4/7 [RECORDED VERBATIM AND INTERPRETED PRE-CATACLYSM]

J: He’s having trouble stabilizing his project.

S: I know. I’ve given him all the help I can manage without him knowing. I expect he’ll activate his precious little project within two days. Three at most.

J: What then?

S: Then we copy that project and modify it. His project has very little use. Ours will have a much more important task.

/ / FRAGMENT ENDS

Blue shook her head. She felt quite dizzy from what she just learned. It seemed that ShadowNet wasn’t the only enemy threatening the world… So… ShadowNet had a big plan that was going to be activated in two or three days, they were going to invade Pallet Town in a few hours, _and_ they were trying to recruit Team Rocket members? And who (or what) exactly was helping her? Why did the messages appear on the screen?

/ /DEX HOLDER, YOU HAVE INSUFFICIENT TIME FOR YOU TO REMAIN IDLE. YOU ARE HERE TO COMPLETE A TASK, AND AFTERWARDS, YOU WILL RETURN TO PALLET TOWN IN ORDER TO FEND OFF INVADING ENEMY FORCES./ /

The computer somehow shutdown afterwards, leaving Blue alone with her thoughts. She shook her head and left the room a few seconds later. Whoever or whatever was helping her was right. She didn’t have enough time to stand still. She still had to spy on Team Rocket and see if they were indeed trustworthy, she then had to find out if some Rocket members were going to help ShadowNet, _then_ she had to return to Pallet Town and warn her friends of the incoming ShadowNet attack.

Within a few minutes, she could see Giovanni sitting at a table downstairs with several important-looking Rocket members nearby. Blue carefully placed a small audio recorder near her floor’s railing so that she could record everything Giovanni and the Rocket members would discuss. She then hid in the shadows and with her Silph Scope, zoomed in on the papers on Giovanni’s desk. She didn’t find anything that suggested that Team Rocket would try to take over the world. She only found some messages from various Rocket members and their results from scouting ShadowNet in Johto.

“Boss, we received a message from ShadowNet, asking us to join them in their cause,” one of the Rocket members said. “What should we do?”

“Pretend to agree with them and attack them instead when the opportunity arises,” Giovanni said after a moment of thought.

“Sir, ShadowNet’s forces are massive. Wouldn’t it be easier and better if we help them?”

“Yes, ShadowNet is massive. But their members and combat skills are terrible. That’s why they’re asking us to help them,” Giovanni said. “If they were as skilled as they claim to be, then they wouldn’t need any help.”

Blue mentally sighed in relief. She had worried about dealing with both ShadowNet _and_ Team Rocket at the same time, but if Giovanni was really on the good side, then dealing with ShadowNet would be significantly easier. But she did wonder how many of the Rocket members were on the same page as their boss… Giovanni seems to have thought of the same problem.

“Send a survey to every Rocket member when everyone wakes up,” he said after a short moment of thought. “Ask a simple question. “Would you join ShadowNet?” And have everyone who said ‘no’ come see me in the meeting room.”

Blue carefully retrieved the audio recorder and after shutting it off, put it in her bag. She then carefully and began to look around for a safe exit. Her task was complete; she found out that Giovanni really was on the good side. But before she even took a single step, something happened…

An alarm was triggered somehow, despite the fact that Blue didn’t do anything. There weren’t any cameras near her location either…

Giovanni looked up from his desk and ordered various Rocket members to look around. A Rocket grunt suddenly approached him.

“Sir, our security system did not detect any anomalies but an alert has been triggered.”

“Search the building,” Giovanni ordered. “If there is an intruder, make sure he doesn’t escape.”

Giovanni suddenly walked away somewhere and a bunch of Rocket grunts started to appear from various rooms. Blue carefully headed towards the room from which she entered.

“There! Over there!” came a voice from behind.

Blue jumped in surprise and glanced backwards. A Rocket grunt was looking at her with a flashlight pointed in her direction. She quickly started to run. She turned a corner and quickly glanced at the walls in the hallway, looking for windows or open doors. Several doors opened and more Rocket grunts appeared.

Blue turned around and started to run again. A lone Rocket grunt stood in front of her and tried to catch her. The girl quickly tried to run past him but he simply ran into her, knocking her off her feet. She rolled to her side to avoid the grunt’s attempt at catching her and jumped to her feet. She hopped over the grunt and resumed running. She turned a corner and ran into someone, who simply gripped her throat hard. It took Blue a second to realize that she ran into Giovanni.

Giovanni started to choke her harder for a split second until he noticed something. He loosened his grip a little and looked at her face carefully. Recognizing Blue, he let her go. The girl dropped to her knees and started to cough. Several Rocket grunts forced her back to her feet and grabbed her arms from either side.

“You…” Giovanni started. “You’re the one who was kidnapped with my son, aren’t you?” Blue nodded. “And you’re the one who my son looks up to like a sister.” Blue nodded again. “What exactly are you doing here?”

The girl coughed again. “Well, to be honest…”

Giovanni signaled the Rocket grunts to release Blue. “You didn’t believe in my word, did you? You thought I had some ulterior motive in helping you.”

Blue rubbed her throat. “Um… yes.”

“We have nothing to hide. I’ll let you go.”

“… Really?” Blue asked, rather surprised. “Um… thank you.”

“Now you have to return to Pallet to get some rest before ShadowNet starts attacking.”

Blue sighed. “Yes… my friends and I will have a tough fight to go through in the morning…”

“We will help you,” Giovanni said. “We will engage the enemy first, as we will surely detect their arrival first. Perhaps that will prove to you that we have no ulterior motive.”

“Thank you… And I’m sorry for doubting you.”

“Just look after my son,” Giovanni said. “He trusts in you a lot more than he does in me.” He then walked past Blue, back towards the table he had been sitting on before the alarm was triggered. “Come back to this building when I tell you to,” he said, abruptly stopping after a few steps. “I have something that I believe will help you and only you.”

Blue looked confused. “Really? What is it? And why can’t you give it to me now?”

“It’s still in development. You’ll find out later.”

Giovanni then walked away, and the Rocket grunts followed. Blue watched them from behind before she made her way towards the exit; the same room from which she entered. Sure, Giovanni knows that she was in the building, but it was still really embarrassing for her to simply walk out of the front door.

…

Several hours later, 7:30 am, Pallet Town…

…

Platinum woke up from her sleep and slowly opened her eyes. She carefully sat up and stretched.

“Hey, rookie, you’re awake, huh?” came a voice from behind.

Platinum looked behind and could see Sapphire doing one-handed push-ups while looking at her with a warm smile. “Yes senior. How was your sleep?” ‘ _Wait… why is she smiling?_ ’

“Very good. Thanks for asking.” Sapphire rose to her feet and stretched her arms. “Hey rookie, want to go on a morning jog with me?”

“Of course, senior, I would be glad to join you. But please give me a few minutes to get ready.”

Platinum rose to her feet and noticed that Gold was still snoring loudly on the couch. So she quietly folded her blankets and tiptoed her way to the bathroom to freshen up. After washing her face and brushing her teeth, the heiress noticed that Sapphire wasn’t in the house and headed outside.

Directly outside Red’s house, Platinum could see Sapphire sitting on a tree branch high above the ground, facing south.

“Senior Sapphire?” she called rather quietly, afraid that she might wake up Red and Gold. Sapphire didn’t respond, as she was lost in thought. “Senior Sapphire?” the heiress called again, a bit louder.

Sapphire snapped out of her thoughts about Hoenn and looked down. Upon seeing her junior, she jumped off of the tree branch and landed directly in front of her.

“So rookie, are you ready?”

“Yes senior.”

The two girls proceeded to take their morning jog. It was a simple route: a rough circle around Red’s house, Green’s house, and Professor Oak’s lab. That way, if any of their seniors needed them, they would be able to respond to the call very quickly. A minute into the jog, Platinum noticed that Sapphire started to sigh.

“… Hey, rookie, I… want to say something…” Sapphire said with another sigh.

“What is it, senior?”

“… I’m sorry…”

Platinum looked surprised. “I beg your pardon?”

“I know I’ve been ignoring you lately, and I’m sorry. To be honest, I… um… I’ve been… jealous of how Red takes special care of you.” She glanced over at her junior and noticed that the heiress looked very shocked. “But I realized that I shouldn’t be jealous at all. I promise that I’ll be nice to you again, so… do you forgive me?”

Platinum suddenly looked extremely happy. “Senior, there is nothing to forgive. I apologize for unintentionally making senior Red pay more attention to me than you. But… if you were to do me the honor of training me, then perhaps senior Red will not worry about me as much.”

“Hey, yeah! You know, I was just thinking that too. We’re on the same team, and since Red and Gold have already trained together, the two of us should train together, instead of me just training you. So how about it?”

Platinum smiled. “I would be honored.”

Meanwhile, in Professor Oak’s lab, Blue woke up and rubbed her eyes. She checked the clock and noticed that it was 7:40. She then checked the Pokégear and noticed that she had received a message from Giovanni. Did she even give him her Pokégear number?

She groggily read the message. It seemed that the message had been sent an hour ago, and that ShadowNet was expected to arrive in Pallet Town at 9 am.

“Oh, that can’t be good…” Blue rose to her feet and looked around. It seemed that Silver was the only one who was awake.

“Sis, what happened yesterday?” Silver asked. He looked at her throat and appeared rather worried. “Your neck’s bruised. What happened?”

“Your father is really on our side. That’s what I found out yesterday. And as for the bruise…” Blue felt around her throat and winced. “Don’t worry about it. It’s not important, and we don’t have time to worry about this kind of thing.” Before Silver could ask what she meant, Blue turned to look at the other 3 sleeping Dex Holders and yelled. “EVERYONE WAKE UP!”

Yellow, Ruby, and Diamond instantly jumped awake and sat up. They looked at Blue with a confused expression.

“Sis, what’s wrong?” Silver asked.

Blue ignored him for the time being. “Yellow, Dia, you’re on food duty. Get breakfast ready for all the Dex Holders within 20 minutes. Ruby, go to Red’s house and Green’s house and get everyone to come here. It’s an emergency, so go!”

…

Meanwhile, New Mauville, Hoenn…

…

“It is time,” Juan said as he looked at the gathered Hoenn Gym Leaders. “ShadowNet in this region are starting to move out. I hear that only half of them are staying in this region, so it is the perfect time to strike.”

“Well, what should we do then?” Roxanne asked.

“Our top priority is to retake Slateport, Lilycove, Fortree, and Fallarbor Town,” Juan replied. “Doing so will prevent ShadowNet reinforcements from arriving and the remaining ShadowNet from escaping.” He thought for a few seconds before continuing. “Roxanne and Brawly, go and retake Fallarbor Town. Gather as many volunteers to aid you afterwards. Flannery and Wattson, take Fortree City. Tate and Liza, go to Slateport City. Wallace and I shall take Lilycove City.” Juan then looked at Norman and Professor Birch. “Norman, you will defend this location and with Professor Birch, monitor all communications.”

The Gym Leaders agreed to the plan (or in Norman’s case, simply sat silently) and those who were going to partake in the attack rose to their feet. Wallace headed towards the exit first, eager to get revenge. But the door suddenly opened and Wallace instantly froze… Because of the lighting issues, he couldn’t instantly recognize the person, but he recognized the tall slim silhouette.

“Winona?”

The other Gym Leaders rose to their feet in surprise. The Fortree Gym Leader took a few steps closer so that the others could see her. She had bandages wrapped (rather crudely) around her head, left shoulder, and her chest, had several band aids on her face, and there were quite a few tears in her clothes (more band aids and bandages were visible through the holes).

“I thought you were dead!” Flannery exclaimed as she ran up to her friend/supervisor.

“Well, as they say,” the Fortree Gym Leader started with a shrug (as much as possible with a broken shoulder). “The news of my death has been greatly… not _that_ greatly, I guess… exaggerated.”

Wallace was still frozen, unable to believe his eyes. Winona looked at him for a second before she approached her other colleagues.

“I heard from right outside that you were getting ready to attack our enemy, and I want a piece of them,” she said, her good hand clenched into a fist.

Juan cleared his throat. “Young lady, you are in no condition to engage the enemy. It would be best if you stay here and focus on recovering. You have full access to the emergency medical room the Pokémon Association had built here. Wait and we will find a doctor from the Mauville Hospital.”

Winona sighed. “I guess that’s… logical.” She looked at Flannery and her other friends. “Good luck. If things go smoothly, I’ll be there to fight alongside you shortly.”

“Winona… how did you…” Wallace started.

“It’s a long story. Retake Slateport, Lilycove, and Fortree City, then I’ll tell you,” the Fortree Gym Leader said. “Right now, focus on fighting the enemy. You don’t need me to tell you that…”

…

Meanwhile, Pallet Town, 8:30 am…

…

The Dex Holders were gathered at the big table in Professor Oak’s lab, waiting for Blue to tell them the result of her task the previous night. But they weren’t expecting she had to say.

“What?” Red asked.

“I said, ShadowNet is coming _here_ in less than half an hour!” Blue repeated. “And to be concise, Giovanni _is_ on our side. He really doesn’t have any ulterior motive for helping us. He said that Team Rocket will face ShadowNet first during their invasion to prove to us that they really don’t have any ill intentions and to buy us more time to prepare. That’s why I had all of you gathered here and forced you to eat your breakfast as fast as possible.”

“Right… we don’t know how long the battle is going to last, and we’ll need energy to fight continuously,” Green said.

“And since they’re attacking us, if we were to win the fight, we’ll chase them into Johto. And I forgot to mention this, but I think their HQ is in Goldenrod City. So if we manage to drive them back that far, we’ll need to secure that city above all else.”

Red jumped to his feet. “Right.” He looked at his team members, who were looking at him expectantly. “All right, you guys in my team, we’re going to meet the enemy head-on. So let’s go!” Before Green or Blue said anything (not that they were going to), the Kanto champion ran out of the lab.

Gold and Sapphire jumped to their feet and ran after their senior. Platinum ran as well, equally excited about the upcoming battle. She wasn’t excited about the battle itself, but rather an opportunity to help her seniors.

“Gold, you’re on the lead,” Red said as he looked back at the goggled boy. “Sapphire, you’re on support. If Gold needs help or you see an opening, attack from the side with everything you have.” The Kanto champion looked at Platinum. “Platinum, you’re coming with me. We’re going to wait until Gold and Sapphire has the enemy’s attention, then we’re going to attack them in the middle. And don’t hesitate to suggest things.”

“Yes, senior!” the heiress exclaimed happily.

Sapphire glanced at her junior and unintentionally clenched her hands into fists. Realizing that she had been jealous (again), she quickly forced herself to smile and ran ahead of her teammates to hide and see if ShadowNet was approaching.

Back in the lab, Green team left as well. They were going to wait until ShadowNet was battling Red team and Team Rocket, and then they would attack from behind.

As she was too sleepy to think or battle properly (slept for less than four hours), Blue was going to overlook the entire battle from high above and get her team members to help whichever team needed help, and get Yellow to heal their Pokémon.

Blue yawned as she sent out her Wigglytuff. She tried to shake away her sleepiness and hopped on. Before she could lift off, Silver stopped her.

“Sis, I need to ask. What’s with those bruises on your neck?”

Noticing the worried expression on Silver’s face, Blue tried to avoid a clear answer. “Don’t worry about it. It was just an accident.”

“… Did my father do that to you?”

Blue looked into his eyes and sighed. “… Yes… But it was an accident, I told you. An alarm somehow got triggered and he caught me as I tried to escape. He let me go right after he recognized me.”

“Did he say anything?”

“He just told me to look after you,” Blue said part truthfully. “He wants you to trust him a lot more.”

…

Route 1, 20 minutes later…

…

The ShadowNet Kanto assault group leader glanced backwards and saw roughly 600 grunts following him on various Flying type Pokémon. Below the group leader, roughly 200 more grunts followed on land, riding vehicles and various Pokémon as well. The plan was to simply overwhelm the Dex Holders who were reported to be staying in Pallet Town. The reports say the Dex Holders were planning on advancing to Johto, so ShadowNet was going to strike first. The Dex Holders were sure to retreat if they are overwhelmed and the assault group was to follow them and conquer as many cities as possible before the Dex Holders vanish. They were eventually going to succeed in retreating, as chasing 13 people with over 800 while maintaining enough battle strength to handle the Dex Holders fighting back was… difficult. Then, with large reinforcements arriving from Hoenn within 3 days, Kanto would fall under ShadowNet control.

Suddenly, there was a report from the leading grunts that they were being attacked from the ground. The assault group leader thought that the Dex Holders have finally found them and ordered all the grunts to charge. But when he arrived at the battle, he realized that the grunts were not battling the Dex Holders.

“What the… Team Rocket?” the leader muttered. He instantly froze. He hadn’t counted on having to deal with Team Rocket. He figured that they were going to be on his side and help destroy the Dex Holders instead of helping _them_.

The leader ordered the grunts to fight Team Rocket first. If they had to fight both Team Rocket and the Dex Holders, then they might as well fight one group at a time. But as the ShadowNet grunts were engaging the Rocket grunts, a giant stream of fire blasted a large group of the Flying Pokémon out of the air.

On the ground, Gold sent out his entire team and had them engage the enemy ground forces while he let his Typhlosion rest for a little while after the initial Blast Burn. Since ShadowNet was a little disoriented from the sudden appearance of Team Rocket, there were lots of openings for strong attacks. Sapphire didn’t have to wait long to join her senior in attacking. She sent out her Blaziken and had it use Blast Burn against a tight group of enemies high in the air and with the rest of her team, proceeded to fight the ground forces. She was going to leave the aerial forces to Team Rocket for now.

From high in the air, Blue could see the entire battle below. She could see that Green team had joined on the attack from the north, cooperating with Red team in a pincer-like attack pattern. A few small groups of Team Rocket grunts assisted the Dex Holder teams in doing such, and Blue could see that the ShadowNet assault team had broken up in two to fight both teams at once. She zoomed in on the battle with her Silph Scope and pulled out her Pokégear.

“Silver and Ruby, go over to Sapphire’s location. There are too many enemies there,” she ordered. She looked at each of her friends and noticed that Red and Platinum were about to charge into the enemy ground forces. “Dia,” she called through her Pokégear. “Go to Platinum and help her and Red.”

Blue scanned the battle again to see if there was anything useful she could tell her friends. Instead, she noticed something coming from the north and zoomed in. She could see a Miltank using Rollout to knock over a few ShadowNet Pokémon. Blue looked slightly up north and could see that Whitney had arrived at the battle for some reason.

Just then, several huge attack blasts came from the Dex Holder teams, and Blue realized that her friends have just used the ultimate moves together against the same target (center of ShadowNet aerial forces). The resulting explosion knocked out a large group of ShadowNet grunts and Pokémon.

“Green, Whitney’s here for some reason,” Blue said through her Pokégear. “Go and attack with her.” She then called Yellow and with her Silph Scope, zoomed in on Gold’s position. “Yellow, go over to Gold. He’s fighting too many enemies at once all alone. Help him with your Volt Tackle.”

She examined the battle from high above and sighed. There were too many ShadowNet grunts here… Despite the fact that the majority of them weren’t good at battling and weren’t using properly trained Pokémon, ShadowNet could still manage to overwhelm the Dex Holders and Team Rocket. Blue knew that she was going to need additional allies to overcome the enemy over 4 times the number as the Dex Holders and Team Rocket grunts put together.

However, unknown to her, there _were_ additional allies heading towards the battlefield. Sabrina and a big group of Team Rocket grunts were about to Teleport into the battle from Saffron City, the Johto Elite Four (including Lance) were heading towards Route 1 from the Victory Road, a group of volunteers were heading south from Pewter City after Brock had been notified by Professor Oak, and currently over Cinnabar Islands, a trainer riding on a Salamence was heading towards Pallet Town as fast as possible…

* * *

**Yes, Winona is alive. It’s not a decision I’ve made recently, as I never wanted her dead to begin with. If I wanted someone dead in the story, I would’ve made it pretty obvious. The early SA plans had her returning in SA #009. That didn’t happen because of the difference between SA and its original plans. The original return of Winona is in the WCHB of this chapter.**

* * *

What Could Have Been:

Conditions:

ShadowNet in Hoenn did not move to assist attacking Kanto.  
The Hoenn Gym Leaders did not move to New Mauville.  
The Dex Holders do not know of ShadowNet’s existence yet.  
Less than 30 hours have passed since Operation: UPPERCUT.

…

August 12, secret Pokémon Association meeting room in Fortree City…

…

The Gym Leaders sat in silence, staring blankly at the object Wallace had just placed on the center of the table.

“Wallace… is that what I think it is?” Flannery asked, her voice shaking.

The Hoenn champion simply nodded. He looked at the object on the table and closed his eyes. He couldn’t bear looking at it. It was the recovered half of Winona’s helmet, still covered in dried crimson blood.

“… Listen everyone,” he started after a few moments of silence. “Winona is… gone. But we have to fight… to avenge her… ShadowNet should be getting careless from their constant victories, so we’ll attack them now.”

The other Gym Leaders soon nodded and started to discuss an attack plan. But before the discussion yielded any results, the door opened from behind and someone stood in the doorway. Noticing the Gym Leaders’ shocked expressions, Wallace turned around. He simply froze upon recognizing who was there.

“W – Winona?”

The Fortree Gym Leader staggered inside the meeting room, her left arm hanging limp and her right hand placed firmly on her side. She seemed to have broken a few ribs and her left arm from the fall. She still had one half of her helmet on, and there were several deep gashes on her face, particularly the half with no helmet. The half of her face was covered in wide streak of dry blood and she had many dark blood patches all over her clothes.

“If… if you’re going to fight the enemy,” she started weakly. “… I’m going with you…”


	16. Shadow of Intent

Chapter 15: Shadow of Intent

Olivine City, Johto…

“Where’s Whitney? Did she even get to Pallet Town yet?” Falkner asked Morty.

“Why ask me?”

“… Because you’re psychic?”

“Oh, right. Well, I can’t be bothered with it right now. We got work to do. Jasmine’s stuck in the lighthouse over there, and there are quite a few bad guys surrounding the place.”

Falkner stared at the ShadowNet grunts surrounding the Olivine Lighthouse. “Is it just me, or… did they attack us with like 7 times as much guys?”

“They did. I wonder where everyone else went.”

“Well, we haven’t seen any of them on our way here from Goldenrod. They might be at another city.”

“Doesn’t matter. We’ll save Olivine City first before we move on. Let’s go!”

…

Route 1, Kanto, 10 am…

…

Blue ducked on top of her Wigglytuff as an Ice Beam barely missed her. It seemed that the aerial ShadowNet forces were going to attack her first, as she was the one overlooking the entire battle (and was the easiest target because she was in the air with no defenses). Blue had temporarily given all of her Pokémon (except Ditto and Wigglytuff) to her juniors, but in return, she had gotten Tropius and Aerodactyl from Sapphire and Red. She sent out both Pokémon and engaged the enemy in an aerial battle.

‘ _It’s moments like these when I wish I kept Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres…_ ’ Blue thought bitterly.

Blue stared at Red’s Aerodactyl, wondering what she was going to do with it. She didn’t know what it was capable of. She never trained with it. Sure, she saw Red use it a few times (against her once or twice), but she didn’t know the full details. But she was sure that it was strong enough to knock out the average Pokémon just by flying into it. Sapphire’s Tropius, on the other hand…

Blue pulled out her Pokédex and checked Tropius’s data. But the sunlight reflecting off of the screen was making it rather difficult. Then a thought occurred…

“Solarbeam!” Blue ordered. Red’s Aerodactyl looked at her with a confused look. “No, not you, you idiot!” she yelled at it. ‘ _Like trainer like Pokémon…_ ’ “Sapphire’s Tropius, Solarbeam!”

The Fruit Pokémon did as told and blasted the nearest ShadowNet Pelipper away. Red’s Aerodactyl simply charged into groups of ShadowNet aerial Pokémon, using its Rock Head (Ability Rock Head + the fact that Aerodactyls are Rock types) to ram things and using its large powerful wings to swat smaller things away.

Blue tapped her Wigglytuff. “Do you still remember Tri Attack?” she asked.

The Balloon Pokémon nodded and Blue almost fell off.

“Don’t nod like that!” she scolded. “Just make a sound of acknowledgement or something. Anyways… go, Tri Attack!”

The Wigglytuff did as ordered and zapped, burned, and froze a small group of ShadowNet aerial forces. Suddenly, the Balloon Pokémon shook violently as several strong attacks hit it. Blue fell off from the sudden motion and managed to grab her Wigglytuff’s foot before it was too late. She looked at her Pokémon and seeing the wounds on its lower back, she realized that it had taken hits from its large blind spot. There were lots of Swellows and Staravias flying around, so Blue assumed that her Wigglytuff had been hit by multiple Aerial Aces.

She tried to climb back up, but her arms were way too sore. She had strained them while trying to infiltrate the Team Rocket base the previous night. Blue hadn’t climbed through windows high above the ground for years, after all.

Then she realized how much of a trouble she was in. Sapphire’s Tropius and Red’s Aerodactyl were busy dealing with some of the ShadowNet aerial forces, leaving the group of Swellows and Staravias all to Blue and her Wigglytuff. Seeing how the Balloon Pokémon wasn’t adept in aerial combat, there was little it could do. Blue knew that without other aerial or anti-air support from her friends, she was screwed.

The Wigglytuff started to take more attacks from the Staravias and Swellows. It tried its best to fight back, but the small Flying type Pokémon were way too fast. And to make things worse, some of the ShadowNet Pokémon was aiming at Blue…

The girl soon found herself surrounded by a group of Swellows, Staravias, and a few Staraptors. She kicked the nearest one in the face and tried her best to protect herself.

‘ _Fighting for my life against a ton of birds high above the ground…_ ’ she thought as she took a Wing Attack to the back. ‘ _This would’ve been my worst nightmare several years ago…_ ’ She took another Wing Attack and her hand slipped off of the Wigglytuff’s foot. While plummeting to the ground, she returned her Wigglytuff to its Pokéball and spread her arms and legs to maximize drag. ‘ _This is how Sapphire’s coach died, huh? If this is my fate…_ ’

Blue clenched her eyes shut and braced herself for one hell of an impact. But just as she was about to accept her death, someone grabbed her arm and saved her. Blue opened her eyes and noticed that she was still quite high in the air…

“Pesky girl… why do you have to make me do everything?” came a familiar voice.

Blue looked up and saw Green holding onto her while riding his Charizard. “Green?”

“And I told you to be careful, and that we all need you here!” the Gym Leader yelled in a scolding manner as he lifted Blue onto his Charizard.

Blue ignored his reprimand and hugged him from behind. “Oh, thank you Green! You saved me in a heroic fashion for once!” She soon let go and looked at the ShadowNet ground forces. “But why are you here? I thought you were fighting them.”

“I was, but Sabrina arrived with a large contingent of Rocket members so I came here to assist,” Green replied. “The Johto Elite Four have come with a bunch of volunteers, and they’re attacking ShadowNet from the north. Your enemies are here as well, so I ordered some of the Dex Holders to assist with the aerial combat.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“Will and Karen are here as a part of the Johto Elite Four. You and Silver hate them and naturally, won’t work well with them.”

“Oh… good call.”

The Viridian Gym Leader looked around and soon barked orders through his Pokégear. “Silver, help Sapphire’s Tropius! Gold, help Red’s Aerodactyl! Crystal, use Future Sight and Psychic on the group of Swellow directly east of your position!”

As the three Johto Dex Holders moved as ordered, Green got his Charizard to land.

“Wait, what are you doing?” Blue asked.

“You’re getting off,” Green replied. “Go back to the lab and get some rest. You’ve done enough. And see if our communication devices are ready yet. Hanging up and calling again and again to give orders is really annoying, especially in the middle of a battle.”

“But…” Even as Blue tried to argue, Green had basically pushed her off his Charizard and headed back up to fight ShadowNet. “… Fine, be that way, you jerk…”

Blue slowly headed towards Pallet Town, as there wasn’t much she could do without a combat capable Pokémon. Her body was aching here and there thanks to the barrage of Wing Attacks. She looked at her arms and could see some bruises forming already. She poked one and winced.

“Ow… stupid bruises…”

As she entered the boundaries of Pallet Town, she could see a Salamence flying towards her from the distance. Blue stayed where she was and eyed the Salamence carefully. When it came closer, a trainer hopped off (a bit too high, maybe, as he had to roll on the ground to lessen the impact).

“Excuse me,” he started as he straightened his clothes. “Do you know what happened in Johto?”

“Well… yes, but who are you?” Blue asked.

“Someone very important to me was in Johto recently. Can you tell me what exactly happened?” the trainer asked instead. “I’ve been told that many cities have been destroyed by this thing called ShadowNet.”

“That’s true, yes. ShadowNet is an evil group who apparently wants to take over every single region. They took over Johto, and I heard that they’ve taken over Hoenn too. And now, they want Kanto so they sent an army. Team Rocket, the Johto Elite Four, and all of my friends are fighting them in Route 1 right now.”

“Great. Then Johto should be quite empty right now!”

The trainer hopped onto his Salamence once more and then sent out four other Pokémon. Blue recognized three of them as Flygon, Dragonite, and Garchomp. She had no idea what the fourth one was, but it sure looked monstrous…

“To Violet City! Let’s go!”

Blue simply watched as the trainer and his Dragon Pokémon headed west towards Johto. A thought suddenly occurred and she hastily took out her Pokégear.

“Red, this is Blue. Get _every_ Dex Holder back to Pallet Town right now! Leave the battle to the Elite Four and Team Rocket. There’s something urgent we need to do.”

Blue hung up and thought over her plan. Suddenly, her Pokégear vibrated as it received a call. She looked at it and noticed that the caller ID was Lt. Surge. Wondering when and how the Rocket Commander got her Pokégear number, she answered the call.

…

Several minutes later, Route 27, Kanto/Johto border…

…

Five Dragon Pokémon were heading towards Violet City, with Salamence in the center and the other four scanning the area. As expected, there was absolutely no resistance from the enemy. The trainer on the Salamence looked ahead. He couldn’t see clearly, but there were distinct columns of smoke rising to the sky from New Bark Town ahead. Realizing that he needed to get to Violet City as fast as possible, he signaled his Garchomp (his fastest Pokémon) to come closer. Once the Mach Pokémon did as told, the trainer jumped off his Salamence and landed on the Garchomp. He then returned the other Dragon Pokémon back into their Pokéballs.

“Go to Violet City as fast as you can manage,” he told the Garchomp.

He took his hat off and made himself as aerodynamic as possible. The Garchomp sped up as fast as it could without having its trainer thrown off. It couldn’t reach mach speeds, but it was still fast enough to reach Violet City within 15 minutes. The trainer got off of his Garchomp and returned it to its Pokéball. Afterwards, he sent out his Hydreigon. It was his best choice when considering size and power. All 6 of his Pokémon were quite big and strong, but he still preferred the smallest of them all. Garchomp and Salamence were his strongest, but they were… big. Dragonite was even bigger (and also quite slow in comparison). Flygon wasn’t that big, but it was his weakest Pokémon.

Within five minutes, he found something helpful. An Espeon appeared from behind the remnants of the Violet Gym, having sensed the trainer’s presence. The trainer recognized the Espeon and after scanning the area for a short while, quickly ran towards it. Once he got close, the Sun Pokémon pointed southwest. The trainer looked where the Espeon pointed and sighed. The Sun Pokémon jumped onto the trainer’s shoulders and after digging around in his bag, found his hat. It then put the hat on the trainer’s head and cuddled up to his neck.

The trainer smiled. “Just like the old days…”

…

Vermillion City, 10:30 am…

…

Silver quietly patrolled around the harbor, trying to find any hint of ShadowNet presence. Lt. Surge had told Blue about a possible ShadowNet gathering in the city near the harbor somewhere, and after a short discussion with Red, Blue had decided to send Silver over to Vermillion while the Rocket Commander dealt with the ships coming in and out of the harbor.

Silver was about to conclude that there was no enemy in the city when he heard a loud scream coming from far away. He reacted quickly and was already on the way with his Weavile and Honchkrow within a second of hearing the scream.

Near the center of the city, there was a commotion involving a small group of men in uniform and a couple of teenagers, a boy and a girl. The group of men was attacking the two teenagers with several Gengars and Houndooms. The teenagers had Pokémon which Silver did not recognize, but he could tell that the two were losing. The boy was standing in a protective stance with the girl behind him.

“Miss President, get out of here! I’ll hold them off!” the boy yelled to the girl.

The girl shook her head. “No! I’m going to fight with you. You can’t win alone.”

Silver remained hidden from view and simply watched the battle. He was going to use the two teens as a way of seeing what the enemy was capable of doing. He mused that this was the main difference between Red and Blue. Red would’ve tried to save the teens as soon as he saw them, but Blue would most likely do what Silver was doing. She would watch from a distance and see what she was dealing with before doing anything.

The boy’s Pokémon, clearly a Fire type, attempted what appeared to be a Flamethrower against one of the Houndooms. It appeared that the two teens had no idea what they were up against. The Houndoom, with stronger Fire type attacks thanks to Flash Fire, retaliated with its own Flamethrower. The boy’s Pokémon took the hit, but was severely weakened. The girl’s Pokémon was in no condition to help either. The deer-like Pokémon had taken several Sludge Bombs from the group of Gengars.

Silver was going to watch some more when several Houndooms and Gengars aimed their attacks at the girl. The boy stepped in and took several Dark Pulses and Shadow Balls in the process, but the situation was clearly dire. The Johto Dex Holder decided that he saw enough and quickly ran over to assist.

While Silver was on the move, the ShadowNet grunts ordered another Dark Pulse at the boy. This time, the attack hit him on the head and knocked him out cold.

“Black! No!” the girl screamed. She turned to glare at the enemy. “Why are you doing this?!”

The ShadowNet grunts didn’t reply and simply ordered a Shadow Ball at the boy. The girl saw the attack and did the only thing she could think of: she stepped in and took the hit instead, as her Pokémon were in no condition to do anything. She screamed in pain as the Shadow Ball hit her directly above the heart and knocked her down. The attack nearly knocked her out and she couldn’t breathe.

Coughing violently, the girl slowly sat up. She put a hand over her heart to help withstand the pain and glared at the group of ShadowNet grunts.

“Crunch,” one of the grunts ordered.

The Houndoom leapt towards the girl with its teeth bared. The girl screamed and tried to back away, but the Dark Pokémon was too fast. It would have bit her, but Silver’s Honchkrow had arrived just in time to smack it away. The ShadowNet grunts seemed alarmed at the sudden intrusion. Silver glared at them as he stood between them and the two teens. He glanced at the girl, who was currently embracing the unconscious boy while looking at him. She had a rather frightened expression, as she didn’t know who he was. Silver ignored her and got his Honchkrow and Weavile to prepare for battle.

The pack of Houndooms started to attack the Weavile. But the Sharp Claw Pokémon was way too fast. It kept dodging every Flamethrower and whenever a Houndoom attempted a Fire Fang or Crunch, it ended up eating an Ice Shard.

While Weavile dealt with the Houndooms, Honchkrow dealt with the Gengars. Honchkrow wasn’t fast, but it overcame its lack of speed with Sucker Punch.

Silver glanced back and forth between his two Pokémon before sending out his Feraligatr. He pointed at the Houndooms first, and once his Weavile had jumped out of the way, the Feraligatr blasted the ShadowNet Pokémon with Hydro Pump.

The ShadowNet grunts decided that it was time to escape. They returned their Pokémon and started to run. Silver considered chasing them, but decided not to. Instead, he got his Weavile to throw a tiny tracking device onto one of them so that he’d find out where they went. Well, Blue would find out, and she’d probably tell him first.

“Mission accomplished, sis,” Silver said through his Pokégear. “ShadowNet reconnaissance team was in Vermillion City. I chased them away, and planted a tracking device on one of them.”

“Very good Silver,” came Blue’s voice.

“And sis, are you okay?” Silver asked. He could hear Blue sigh.

“I’ll be fine, Silver. It was just a few Wing Attacks; nothing major.”

“But still…”

“Listen, it’s not like I was hit by a Spike Cannon. I’ll be perfectly fine. I just have a few bruises here and there. I’ve been through worse, Silver. You know that better than anyone else.”

“All right, sis.”

“Good. Now, once you’re done sightseeing in Vermillion City, look for some more ShadowNet recon teams and try to find people who can help us fight them. I’ve sent Ruby and Dia to do the same thing in Cerulean and Celadon.”

“All right. I’ll see you once I get back.”

Silver hung up and turned to look at the two teens he had just saved. The girl still had the unconscious boy in her arms, as if she was afraid to let him go.

“Thank you so much for helping,” the girl said with a bow.

Silver was about to walk away when he noticed something in the girl’s hand. It was a small mechanical device that currently showed data on Weavile… The Johto Dex Holder snatched it away from the girl.

“Hey, what are you doing?” the girl asked as she tried to take her device back.

Silver’s Weavile simply pushed her away and stood between her and its owner. Silver stared at the device for a short while before he called Crystal.

“Hey Crys, this is Silver.”

“Hi Silver. If you’re asking about the communications device, it’s almost complete. Just a few more-”

“How much do you know about the next versions of the Pokédex?” Silver asked.

“Version VIII? It’s in preparation for development. I don’t know whether it’ll be a success or not, but if it is, then probably Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald would get them,” came Crystal’s reply.

“Uh… how much do you know about the _most recent_ version of the Pokédex?”

“Version VII? I heard Professor Oak talk about them to someone on a conference, but I don’t know much about them. But why do you ask?”

“I think I’m looking at one right now.”

“What? How?”

“There’s a girl here with one.”

“Actually,” the girl started quietly so that she wouldn’t interfere on the phone call. “That’s not mine.” She pointed at the unconscious boy. “It’s his.”

“Okay, the Pokédex isn’t hers, but I’m looking at one anyways. Crys, can you come over here and check it out?”

“Sure, Silver. I’ll be there shortly.”

Silver glanced at the unconscious boy and the girl. “Crys, meet me in Celadon City’s hospital.”

“Why? Are you hurt?” came Crystal’s worried voice.

“No. But the owner of the Pokédex version VII took one too many Shadow Balls to the head. His friend’s not doing so well either. I’ll see you in Celadon.”

“Hospital?” the girl muttered. “Thank you…”

Silver hung up and looked at the girl. “Do you have aerial transport?”

“Well, no, but my friend does, and it’s strong enough to carry both of us,” the girl replied.

“Good. Follow me then.”

Silver returned his Weavile and Feraligatr and got his Honchkrow to grab his hand. The girl hastily returned her Pokémon and her friend’s. She then found the aerial transport Pokémon from her friend’s belt and followed Silver.

…

Pallet Town…

…

“Okay. This is what we’re going to do,” Blue started. “Red, you and your team are going to Johto. Majority of ShadowNet forces are fighting the Johto Elite Four and Team Rocket, so it should be quite quiet in Johto. Green, you and your team are going to stay in Pallet Town and finish the communications device. Make sure that no one else can hack the frequency. I’ll try to help you on that. My team and Yellow will search around Kanto for ShadowNet activity. Silver found a recon team in Vermillion City, so we’ll have to check the major and significant cities.”

“Okay then,” Red started. “My team, this is what we’re going to do. Platinum, you’ll need to borrow an aerial transport. Now, I’ll be going to Goldenrod to secure the Magnet Train Station. Gold, go to Olivine to secure the harbor. Sapphire, head to Ecruteak City. It’s a major city of Johto and a key location of northern Johto. Platinum, you go over to Violet City. There won’t be much there, but if the ShadowNet forces from Route 1 retreat, they’ll have to cross Violet City.”

“Yes, senior.” Platinum turned to look at Gold. “Senior, may I borrow your Togekiss?”

“Sure,” Gold said. He reached into his pocket and tossed the heiress the Pokéball containing his Togekiss. “You know what to do with it?”

“Yes, senior. I… have used one once before,” Platinum replied. The unpleasant memories popped up in her mind, but she shook them away.

Suddenly, Blue’s Pokégear started to vibrate.

“Sabrina?” she muttered, looking at the caller ID. “How did she get my Pokégear number? … Why do _all_ of the Team Rocket heads know my Pokégear number?!”

“Because I’m _psychic_ ,” Sabrina answered when Blue picked up. “When the boss, Surge and I entered that lab yesterday, I took the liberty of accessing your minds and getting the Pokégear numbers of you, Red, and Green. It was necessary, as we were going to work with you. Surely, there was no harm in that?”

“Next time, why don’t you just _ask_?” Blue seethed. “What else did you see? Did you read the minds of others as well?”

“No. I prefer to not read minds unless it’s necessary. What someone thinks is a personal matter that I have no interest in usurping. Anyways, I called to let you know that ShadowNet forces are retreating. It seems that several Johto Gym Leaders have retaken Olivine City. I have sent 40 Rocket members to that lab. Do as you wish. They have been instructed to follow the orders of you, Red, and Green.”

Sabrina hung up afterwards and Blue simply sat in silence to process the information. She put the Pokégear down and sighed.

“Okay… um… change of plans,” she said. “ShadowNet forces are retreating. Apparently the Johto Gym Leaders retook Olivine City so ShadowNet must feel that their foundation in Johto is faltering. Sabrina sent use 40 Rocket grunts. So Red, take them to Johto. I’m sure they’ll be of great help.”

“All right then, let’s go meet them,” Red said.

The Kanto champion rose to his feet and left the lab. His entire team followed. Outside the lab, 40 Rocket grunts stood around, waiting.

“Where are we going?” one of them asked.

“Okay, divide yourselves into four groups of 10 and listen up,” the Kanto champion said. Once the Rocket grunts did as ordered, he continued. ‘ _I never thought more Rocket grunts could be a good thing…_ ’ “The first group is going to follow me to Goldenrod City. The second group will go with Gold to Blackthorn City. The next group will go with Sapphire to Ecruteak City. The last group will go with Platinum to Violet City.”

Red team and the four Rocket groups prepared to leave for Johto. But unfortunately, not everyone was happy about the team division…

…

Meanwhile, ShadowNet Johto HQ, Goldenrod City…

…

The prisoner girl hugged her knees and rocked back and forth inside her cell, afraid to do anything. Ever since her captors tested their mind control device on her, there was an uncomfortable presence in her mind.

Her captors have tested more versions of their mind control device on her, and each use seemed to make the unwanted presence larger. The presence was dormant, at least, but it wasn’t leaving. She didn’t want to know what would happen if the presence woke up.

The girl firmly placed her hands on her temples and tried to force the presence out, but to no avail.

“No… no… no…” she whimpered out. “He’s… he’s coming… No… … Don’t be a fool… … Leave me!” She started to rock back and forth much faster as she started to lose focus. “Of course… you never listened to me before…” She started to laugh as the white material from the mind control device tests began to form on her face again. “It’s happening again. How fun…”

…

Skies over Johto, 11 am…

…

A Rocket grunt silently grit his teeth as he watched his _team leader_ , a girl who was younger than his own daughter. And this girl wasn’t even like the other one on the Johto mission, who had proven herself to be ridiculously tough through the whole Groudon and Kyogre incident, _then_ the fake Kyogre incident a year after.

He looked over to his right, where his friend was riding his Pidgeot. He had the same thoughts, so they had formulated a plan to be set into motion the moment they landed in Violet City.

The friend looked around and after ensuring that no one else was watching, sent a message to someone through his phone.

…

Meanwhile…

…

D: Sir, we just got a message from a Rocket member.

L: And?

D: He suggests we post a couple of squads in Violet City. He says that we’ll be able to capture a Dex Holder.

L: Really? In that case, post fours squads in Violet City. Have two appear to follow his suggestion and have the other two hide and look in case he’s lying. Oh, who responded to our calls?

D: Uh… we have two ex-Galactic Commanders so far.

L: Excellent. I believe there are two members of the Johto Elite Four who aren’t entirely ‘justice-crazy’. I’m certain that they’ll join us if we lure them properly. I hear they’re rather crazy for power and the fun of conquering. They’ll be great assets.

D: Yes sir. I’ll send them a mail.

* * *

**Yes, Jigglypuff and Wigglytuff get Tri Attack. Generation I TM 49.**

* * *

What Could Have Been:

Conditions:  
Whitney arrives at Pallet Town before the ShadowNet attack.  
The Dex Holders are unaware of the impending ShadowNet invasion.

…

Pallet Town, 9 am, August 14…

…

“Whitney, what are you doing here?” Green asked.

“Johto’s been taken by a big evil team!”

“Yeah, we know,” Gold said. “We’ve known that for a day now.”

“… Oh…” the Goldenrod Gym Leader muttered. “Well… um…”

“Well, why don’t you go back to Goldenrod City?” Gold suggested. “You know, actually _help_ fight them.”

“Oh come on! I just got here!” Whitney yelled. “I spent a whole day getting all the way here just to tell you guys!”

“And like I said, we know about ShadowNet.”

“They’re called ShadowNet?”

“… Yes. See? You’re of no help to us. We even know more than you!”


	17. Two Betrayals

Chapter 16: Two Betrayals

Olivine City, 12 pm…

“Hey, Morty,” Falkner said as he looked down at Olivine City from on top of the lighthouse.

“What?”

“Why don’t you use your psychic powers to see where our enemies are coming from?”

“Well… I can’t,” the Ecruteak Gym Leader replied. “I can look for something specific that belongs to someone, or the owner of a specific item. Trying to find the enemy’s base of operations would be impossible unless our enemies took your Skarmory or something there.”

“Oh. In that case, I guess we have no choice but to look for it the old fashioned way. Oh yeah, and I wanted to ask you something for a few years now.”

“What?”

“Does it bother you that Gold saw Ho-oh 6 years ago without even looking for it when you spent your entire life and got nothing?”

“… Yes,” the Ecruteak Gym Leader replied with a sullen expression. “The only comfort I get is that Suicune ignored Eusine and chose Crystal _right in front of him_. But that’s irrelevant! You stay here while I go over to Cianwood City to find and help Chuck.”

“Then there are those other Dex Holders too. I heard that one got kidnapped by Ho-oh when she was 5. Come to think of it, _a lot_ of those Dex Holders had contact with Ho-oh while you-”

“Shut up…”

…

Violet City, 12:30 pm…

…

The dismayed Rocket grunt approached Platinum despite her orders to scatter around and search for a good defendable location for the oncoming ShadowNet forces. The heiress was alone at the moment, planning for the upcoming battle.

“Excuse me,” started the Rocket grunt. “But there is something very urgent I need to talk to you about.”

“Oh? What is it?” Platinum asked.

The Rocket grunt cleared his throat and began his prepared speech. “How trustworthy do you find Red?”

“Senior Red? He is very trustworthy and dependable. I do not think that he has ever lied.”

“Ah. Well, you might see him as trustworthy, but I highly doubt that he sees you the same way.”

Platinum looked stunned for a second. “Explain.”

“He may have pretended to trust you enough to give you a mission, but in truth, he’s suspicious. You are the worst battler in your team, yet he sent you alone to Violet City, the center of eastern Johto, and the city that ShadowNet will have to cross whether they’re retreating to Johto, or going to attack Kanto. It may appear as if he’s testing you, but he set you up to fail. If he was testing you, then he would’ve sent someone to Azalea Town to come to your aid. Goldenrod and Ecruteak are too important, so no one will come to your aid from there. He wants you to fail. He wants ShadowNet to either capture you or kill you.”

“That is preposterous!” Platinum exclaimed, but her voice was shaking. “Why would he want such a thing?”

“If you fail your mission and he succeeds in his, which he will, then he will appear that much better. I do have a suggestion, however. If you follow it, then not only will you succeed in your mission, but you’ll make the rest of your team members respect you. In fact, you could take Red’s place and become your team’s leader.”

Platinum started to hyperventilate. ‘ _Is that why senior Red ordered me to search the forest in the New Bark Town mission? Did he not trust me enough to battle beside me? But… he battled with me against ShadowNet in Route 1. Did he only do that to confirm his suspicion?_ ’ She desperately recalled how Red had treated her for the past few days and tried to piece things together. But a thought soon occurred and she started to calm down. ‘ _No… there is no way that senior Red has any enmity towards me. I have done nothing to anger him. I have showed him nothing but respect and there is absolutely no reason for him to hate me. This is probably a lie created by someone who wants to separate me from senior Red…_ ’

“So, what are you going to do?” the Rocket grunt asked.

“I shall complete the mission senior Red has given me,” Platinum replied. “Even if senior Red does not trust me, I trust him. I trust that he will see my sincerity and know that I do not have any ill intentions towards him. Although I may have upset him on his birthday several days ago, I believe I have not done anything to annoy him afterwards. He has been taking very good care of me, and I will return his benevolence with trust and obedience.”

“But do you trust him with your life?”

Platinum smiled. “Yes. I do. And nothing will change that, ever. Now please do not speak of this again.”

The Rocket grunt sighed and walked away to find his friend. He found him near the remains of the Violet City Gym, looking into his phone. The friend saw him and put the phone away.

“How’d it go?”

“It didn’t do anything,” the Rocket grunt replied. “I guess that was a poorly thought out plan to begin with. No matter. Come on, let’s put the second part of our plan in motion.”

The two Rocket grunts sent out their Pokémon (a Scyther and a Cloyster) and headed towards the remains of the Violet City hotel, where Platinum was. The heiress turned around when she felt their presence.

“What is it?” she asked.

Instead of a reply, the first Rocket grunt simply pointed at her. At that instant, his Scyther dashed forward with the blade on its arm swinging. Platinum gasped in shock and quickly jumped backwards. But she couldn’t jump out of the way entirely. Even as the heiress was in the air, the Scyther’s blade hit her and cut across her stomach, leaving a deep, long gash.

Platinum screamed as she lost strength in her legs and fell onto her back. She placed her left arm around her big gaping wound and reached for the Pokéballs in her bag with her right. Unfortunately, before she could get her Empoleon’s Pokéball, the Scyther had stabbed into her right forearm with its scythe. She let out another scream from the excruciating pain. Platinum glanced at her arm and could see that the blade had stabbed through, pinning her forearm to the ground. It didn’t seem necessary, as she couldn’t move her fingers.

The Scyther withdrew its blade and the Rocket grunt returned it to its Pokéball, as there was no chance of a battle occurring. Platinum groaned and rolled over to her side so she could try to push herself off the ground. The two Rocket grunts walked around her so they could look at the heiress’s face as she struggled to breathe.

“Wh – Why…” Platinum gasped out. Dark blood spilled out from her mouth and the open wounds on her stomach and forearm.

“It’s simple,” the first Rocket grunt said. “You’re not capable of leading us. We’re taking over. I gave you a chance to prove yourself worthy and you failed miserably.”

Just then, the other Rocket grunts in Violet City came running, as they heard Platinum screaming. The first Rocket grunt put a foot on top of the heiress’s lower back and pushed down. Platinum writhed and tried to push the grunt off of her. Unfortunately, she couldn’t exert anywhere near enough force…

“Listen up!” he yelled. He pushed down with his foot and spoke louder. “This girl here attempted to defect to ShadowNet and I stopped her. So from this point on, I’ll be leading our team.”

Platinum tried to speak but the severe pain in her stomach and the fact that she couldn’t breathe prevented her from doing such. She could only look ahead in despair before she slowly passed out.

Just then, several ShadowNet grunts appeared from their hiding places all around. The first Rocket grunt looked around, wondering why they were there, and how they knew that his team was going to be there.

“Prepare to fight!” he yelled nonetheless.

The other Rocket grunts sent out their Pokémon, but they weren’t going to listen to him. Though they may have been a little disappointed in having Platinum lead them, they still accepted the fact that the heiress was a very talented trainer and therefore accepted her as their leader. As such, they were going to fight ShadowNet _and_ the traitors.

The first Rocket grunt looked at his friend. He knew that he was the only one he could trust. But he was wrong. Just as he was about to reach for his Pokémon to fight ShadowNet, his friend’s Cloyster shot a Spike Cannon directly into his chest.

“Wh – What? Why…”

“Sorry, friend,” said the ex-Rocket grunt. “But I want the same thing as you. You want power, and that’s why you attacked this Dex Holder to take her place. I want power too. That’s why I’m defecting to ShadowNet. They’ll treat me very well, given what I just offered them.”

“And… what… are you offering?”

“This Dex Holder, of course!” the ex-Rocket grunt yelled as he lifted the unconscious Platinum off the ground and wrapped an arm around her throat. “I must thank you for knocking her out for me.” The heiress’s blood dripped onto his arm. “You could have done it a little cleaner, but oh well. You can rest in peace now, _my friend_. Have consolation in the fact that you would have done the same thing.”

The other Rocket grunts battled the ShadowNet grunts while slowly retreating. There were way too many enemies at the moment, and given what just happened to Platinum, they wouldn’t be able to fight properly. The best thing they could do was to retreat to Goldenrod City and tell Red what happened.

…

Pallet Town…

…

Blue walked up towards Green while rubbing her sore arm with an ice pack. The Viridian Gym Leader was currently working on the communications device along with Crystal, Emerald, Pearl, Daisy, Bill, Professor Oak, and Professor Elm. All of the others were scattered around the lab, leaving only Green and Blue in the room.

“You know, Green,” the girl started. “I want to thank you again for saving me. So… thank you.”

“Don’t mention it,” Green said distractedly.

Blue pulled up a chair beside the Gym Leader’s and sat down. She leaned against him and rested her head against his shoulder. “I knew I could count on you to save me. I hope you’ll continue to look out for me.”

“Sure.” Green turned his attention away from the computer screen and looked at Blue. “How’s the arm?”

“It hurts, but I’ll be fine. It could have been a lot worse, considering how far I fell.” Blue put the ice pack down. “But I need to ask. How did you save me without breaking my arm?”

“Hm? What do you mean?”

“I was in freefall for quite a bit. When you grabbed me, I should’ve broken my arm from the momentum of the fall.”

“I had Charizard swoop down to catch you. The moment I grabbed your arm, it slowed down its descent. But all that occurred in a span of a couple of seconds, which is why your arm is strained.”

Blue smiled. “Thank you Green. If Red was to save me, I’m sure I’d have a dislocated shoulder.” She reached up and kissed him on the cheek. “I guess I’ll leave you alone with your work. Call me if you need me.”

Blue left the room and called someone on her Pokégear.

“What is it?” came Sabrina’s emotionless voice a few seconds later.

“How are things on your end?”

“I sent every Rocket member involved in the fight in Route 1 to New Bark Town. They’ll hold that town and slowly proceed into Johto when they’re ready. Anything else?”

“Can’t you read my mind?”

“Not from this distance, no.”

“Huh… where are you?”

“Back in my city.”

Blue thought for a second. “So… I was going to ask why you weren’t using your super psychic powers to find out where the ShadowNet forces are, but I guess you can’t sense them from too far away.”

“Yes. I can read and detect anyone’s mind and communicate with them if they are close, preferably in the same city. I can only do so with people I know if they are in the adjacent city. But that is difficult and I can only maintain it for a limited time. Now, from this point on, contact Surge instead if you need to contact me. I’ll be monitoring Kanto one city at a time with my Alakazam, and it requires total concentration.”

Without warning, Sabrina hung up. Blue grumbled as she put her Pokégear away.

“Fine, be that way, you flat, cold-hearted bit-” Blue held her tongue in mid-syllable. ‘ _Oh wait, she can’t hear me from all the way in Saffron…_ ’ Blue grinned. “-ch. There, I said it, and there’s nothing you can do about it.” _‘I hope, anyways…_ ’

…

Celadon City Hospital, 1:30 pm…

…

Crystal arrived at the hospital and returned her Xatu. The moment she entered, she could see Silver standing in the corner with his arms crossed. Silver saw her and approached her. He could see that she was wearing some sort of a headset…

“Sorry, I’m late, Silver. I had to complete the communications device first. It’s working perfectly, though.” Crystal reached into her pocket and handed Silver a headset. “Here. It’s yours.”

Silver took it and put it on. “Thanks.”

“Oh, Silver, why aren’t you in the hospital room with the two you saved?” Crystal asked.

“Because that’s the same as me being in the same room as you and Gold and _no one else_.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“… Did I just say that out loud? Never mind.”

The two Johto Dex Holders went up to the room with the two teens that Silver had saved earlier. Crystal knocked on the door before opening it, and she could see that the boy had woken up and the girl was holding his hand. Crystal turned to glare at Silver.

“Did you imply something between me and Gold?”

“Blame sis,” Silver replied, avoiding eye contact. “Anyways, I need to go.”

Crystal was about to say something, but Silver had already left. With a sigh, she entered the hospital room where the two rescued teens were waiting.

“Hi, I’m Crystal, Crys for short. I’m one of the Johto Dex Holders,” she said to the two teens. She showed them her Pokédex (version VI) as a way to prove her identity.

The two teens bowed in return. “I’m White,” said the girl. “And he’s Black. We’re from the region of Unova.”

“So, Black, how are you doing?” Crystal asked. “I heard from Silver that you took several attacks to the head.”

“Yes, but the doctors say that I’ll be perfectly fine.”

“What about you, White?”

“I’ll be just fine. I wasn’t that hurt to begin with, so…”

“So Black, I heard from Silver that you had the Pokédex version VII. Can you tell me how exactly you got it?” Crystal asked.

“Sure. I was supposed to-”

Black was interrupted by a loud audio crackle from Crystal’s headset. The girl winced and groaned as she reached up to her ears.

“Ow… ugh… Lower the volume…” she said into the microphone.

“Crys! This isn’t the time for that!” came Blue’s alarmed voice. The volume was lowered, though.

“What’s the matter?” Crystal asked. She had never heard her senior sound so… distressed before.

“Um… Oh, how did this happen? … Just come back to Pallet Town _right now_!”

“What? Why? What’s wrong?”

“Platinum’s been captured by ShadowNet! Apparently two Rocket grunts betrayed her. According to the other grunts who escaped to Goldenrod, she’s _really_ hurt!”

“Oh no! I’ll get there as fast as I can!”

“What’s wrong?” White asked.

“A junior Dex Holder was fighting the enemy, and it seems that some of her allies betrayed her and she got captured. I need to get to Pallet Town right now so we know what we should do.”

“Is there anything we can do?” Black asked. “If the bastards that attacked us are the same enemies you’re talking about, then I’d like a piece of them.”

Crystal hastily prepared to leave. “Listen. I need to go right now, so if you want to help, then come to Pallet Town. Find Professor Oak’s lab and you’ll either find the professor, or one of the other Dex Holders. Show them your Pokédex and they’ll tell you what you can do.”

Crystal hastily ran out of the hospital room and the moment she exited the hospital, sent out her Xatu. Inside the hospital, Black rolled off of the bed.

“Black, what are you doing?” White asked.

“I’m not going to stand around and do nothing while they’re fighting the bad guys,” he replied. “I’m going too.”

“But you’re still hurt. You shouldn’t do anything physically straining.”

“Miss President, haven’t you heard that a trainer needs to train himself as much as his Pokémon? As long as I’m not crippled, I won’t have any problems fighting.” Black looked at White and smiled. “Besides, didn’t we come here to learn from the other Dex Holders? If we help them fight the enemy, we can learn something while fighting with them _and_ they’ll be happy to help us in return.”

White still looked very worried. “Okay, if you put it that way… But you have to be very careful.”

“Don’t worry, Miss President. We’ll be fine.” Black looked through the window and noticed that Crystal had already left. “Uh… Miss President, do you know where Pallet Town is?”

“I… have no idea, actually,” White said after a moment of thought. “I knew I forgot something… I forgot to bring a map! This is what happens if we’re not fully prepared.”

…

Pallet Town, 2 pm…

…

Crystal landed on the ground and immediately sprinted towards the lab. The moment she entered, she could see Diamond panicking as he paced around and Pearl trying to calm him down despite appearing equally devastated. She looked around and noticed that the entire Red team, Yellow, Silver, and Ruby were not present. Crystal could see Blue talking to someone on her headset in the corner, so she turned on her own headset and tried to hear the conversation.

“Damn it, Blue! Why are you trying to stop me?” came Red’s angry voice.

“You don’t even know if Platinum’s still in Violet City! You can’t just go charging in there!” Blue argued. “And listen, if you do anything reckless, ShadowNet might kill her!”

“They’ll kill her if I _don’t_ go and save her!”

“Look, Red! Platinum might be dead already,” Blue said in an attempt to calm her friend. Diamond and Pearl froze as they turned to look at her. “If ShadowNet already killed Platinum-”

Diamond put his hands to his temples and shook his head. “No, no, no… There’s no way…”

Blue looked at him with a sympathetic expression before she returned her focus to her conversation with Red. “If she’s dead, then there’s no point in you going to Violet City. But if she survived and escaped, the very first place she’s going to go is Goldenrod City to find you. And if you’re not there, who knows what’s going to happen. And if ShadowNet has Platinum hostage, they’ll definitely kill her if you do anything. But if they do have her, then that means they want something and therefore won’t kill her until they get it.”

“So what do you want us to do?” Red asked after a sigh. “And what are you going to do?”

“I want you to stay in Goldenrod. Have Sapphire go to Azalea Town, and move Gold to Ecruteak. I’m going to Violet City.”

“And what are you planning to do?”

Blue closed her eyes and let out a long sigh as she thought about the amount of pain she was going to have to go through. “I’m… going to get captured.”

Green looked surprised. Blue saw him and flashed him a rather bitter smile.

“… Did I hear that right?” Red asked.

“Yes, you did,” Blue replied. “It’s the safest and the fastest way of getting to Platinum. With any luck, ShadowNet will take me to where Platinum is and I’ll be able to save her. Even if they don’t, I can get _some_ information and find out where they’re keeping her. Then I can try all over again, closer to where she is.”

“Are you sure about this?”

“I’ll be fine, Red. Just don’t tell Silver.”

Blue ended the conversation and took a deep breath. Green cleared his throat.

“I hope you know what you’re doing.”

“So do I…” she murmured. She turned to look at all the other Dex Holders gathered. “Okay… so this is what we’re going to do. Green, you’ll have to drop me off in Violet City. Everyone else… just follow Green’s orders. Just don’t tell Silver about what I’m doing. Let him do what I told him to do.”

“Please find and rescue the Lady,” Diamond said. “If she’s really hurt…”

Blue nodded. She felt really bad for him, as she had never seen him so devastated. “Don’t worry too much. I’m sure she’ll be just fine.”

Green led Blue out of the lab after giving orders to the other Dex Holders. Once outside, the Gym Leader turned to face her.

“Now, you’re sure about this?”

“No, but it’s worth an attempt.”

Green sighed and thought for a few seconds. “So… let’s say that you do manage to find Platinum, _and_ escape. What then? I assume you’re not going to be taking your Pokémon, headset, or a Pokégear.”

“Well, if I do find Platinum and save her, then I’ll be able to use her Pokégear. Don’t worry too much about me, although I do appreciate your visible concern.”

Green sent out his Charizard and the two Kanto Dex Holders headed towards Johto. Green had his Charizard avoid flying over the Johto towns and routes in order to avoid the ShadowNet forces. As a result, the two Dex Holders arrived near Violet City almost an hour after leaving Pallet Town.

From the air, Blue looked through her Silph Scope to find a suitable landing zone. The only suitable opening in the ShadowNet forces residing in the area was around a 10-minute walking distance into Route 36 from Violet City. Upon landing, Blue hopped off.

“Hurry and get out of here,” she said to Green. “ShadowNet forces will probably get here within 5 minutes.”

Green got his Charizard to prepare for takeoff. “Try to find Platinum and escape as fast as possible,” he said to Blue. “Once again, we all need you here.”

Blue nodded and handed the Gym Leader her bag, her headset, and all of her Pokémon so that she wasn’t carrying anything. “Well… wish me luck. I’m probably going to need it.”

Green reached over and put a hand on her shoulder. “Good luck, Blue.”

The Charizard soon lifted off and headed straight south to avoid the incoming ShadowNet forces. Green looked down and he could see ShadowNet aerial forces heading towards Ecruteak City via Route 36. Because he was so far away, he couldn’t see exactly what was happening, but he could see the leading ShadowNet Pokémon starting to circle around something.

Green took Blue’s Silph Scope out of her bag and looked through it. He could see that the ShadowNet Pokémon were circling Blue and attacking her from all sides. Green immediately considered in saving her from the attacks, but forced himself to continue to Pallet Town. Just as he was about to look away, he saw Blue take a Brave Bird from behind. The girl collapsed forward and stopped moving even as the surrounding Flying types bombarded her with more Wing Attacks and Aerial Aces.

Green closed his eyes and put the Silph Scope away. “Shit… Blue, I seriously hope you know what you’re doing…”

…

Meanwhile…

…

D: Sir, what should we do with the Dex Holder prisoner? Should we test the latest version of Project 05-032 on her?

L: No. We already have another prisoner for that in Goldenrod. Besides, the project has been completed. Take this prisoner to a different base. We’ll hold her for ransom. She’s from an incredibly rich family. I’m sure they’ll pay ridiculous amounts for her return. Make sure she doesn’t die until we get the ransom money.

D: But… we have absolutely no way to establishing contact with her family in Sinnoh.

L: In that case, send some of the best members of our team over there, but discreetly. I’ll tell them the details of their task once they get there.

D: Yes sir. … Oh, it seems that we have captured another Dex Holder.

L: Who?

D: Uh… she’s one of the oldest Dex Holders. We believe her name is Blue.

L: Is she the one with brown hair and blue eyes?

D: Given the reports, yes.

L: …

D: Sir?

L: Get as much information as you can from her. Do whatever it takes. Once she talks, kill her.

D: We’re not going to hold her hostage? Having her captive may prove to be useful.

L: I don’t care. Get her to talk, no matter what it takes, then kill her. That’s an order.

D: Yes sir.

L: Feel free to make the interrogation as harsh and painful as possible. I don’t care if she dies from the interrogation. And make sure that the other captured Dex Holder watches.

D: Yes sir. Sir, why do you hate this Blue so much?

L: I have my reasons.

D: According to the reports, the one called Blue is currently unconscious but otherwise fine. But it seems that the younger Dex Holder will die within the hour unless we do something.

L: Then have some of our medics to give her a basic treatment for her injuries. Not hospital-quality, but enough that she won’t die.

* * *

**For the first time in SA, a Dex Holder appears on the KIA/MIA list! … That’s not a good thing, but it does mean that the story pace is accelerating…**

**Current Dex Holder KIA/MIA list: Blue, Platinum.**


	18. Walk It Off

Chapter 17: Walk It Off

August 14th, 3 pm, ShadowNet base in unknown city…

‘ _… Where… where am I?_ ’

“Hey! Wake up!”

‘ _… Ungh… what… what happened?_ ’

“I said wake up!”

Platinum woke up when someone poured a bucket of ice water on her. She slowly opened her eyes and tried to wipe the water off of her face. Realizing that she was unable to, she looked at her arms and noticed that they had been tied together behind her. She was sitting on a chair, it seemed, and her feet were tied to the chair legs. She was tied to the chair, and the rope binding her was wrapped over the wound on her stomach, so every attempt to escape only caused pain. As a result, the heiress remained sitting and tried to calm herself. Nothing good was going to come out of panicking, after all.

Platinum looked straight ahead and could see one of the Rocket grunts who had betrayed her. He was wearing the ShadowNet uniform, and his friend was nowhere to be seen.

“You…” the heiress began. “Where is your friend?”

“Dead,” the ShadowNet grunt replied. “Thanks to me, anyways. You see, he would’ve killed you and then taken your place. He probably would’ve told Red that you’ve betrayed him or something. But my idea was much better. I give you over to ShadowNet, and they give me what I want. Of course, since I know where your teammates have been deployed, I can trade that information for promotions now.”

“Disloyal beast,” Platinum said through clenched teeth. “You better release me or senior Red will come to save me.”

The ShadowNet grunt laughed. “That’s not going to happen. You see, Red already knows that you’ve been captured. Your Rocket friends probably told him that, as quite a few escaped to Goldenrod when you were captured. If he was going to try to save you, then he would be here by now, blasting everything with his teammates. But as you can see, it’s perfectly quiet here.”

Platinum glanced around and noticed that the ShadowNet base showed absolutely no signs of being under attack. She instantly felt severe disappointment and despair, but forced herself to remain calm.

“No. Senior Red will definitely come to save me. I – I know he will!”

“Believe whatever you want,” the ShadowNet grunt replied. “But the truth is the truth. You’ve been abandoned. The sooner you understand that, the better.” The door opened behind him and more ShadowNet grunts appeared. “Well, since I got what I wanted from you, I’ll leave you alone. But I don’t think my new allies will. But that’s between you and them. Good bye.”

Platinum watched the first ShadowNet grunt walk away and a group of three more entered the room. They surrounded her and didn’t look as friendly as the grunt that betrayed her.

“What do you want?” Platinum asked. She tried to appear calm and collected, but her voice was shaking.

The three ShadowNet grunts didn’t reply. But their intentions became clear when one of them struck the heiress across the cheek. They wanted information. It seemed that the traitor didn’t tell them anything so far, so they were going to torture the information out of her…

Platinum closed her eyes. She wasn’t going to tell her captors anything. She firmly held on to the belief that Red would come to save her. If not him, then surely Diamond and Pearl would, assuming they found out about her. Surely _someone_ would come… But until then, the ShadowNet grunts continued the interrogation. They struck Platinum across the cheeks, kicked her knees, and punched her shoulders. They weren’t really torturing her because of her condition. After all, she had to remain conscious if she was going to tell them anything. The painful, yet non-serious attacks continued, and the heiress found it harder and harder to withstand them.

The ShadowNet grunts kept asking questions, but Platinum ignored them. They kept hitting her, but she remained silent. The grunts continued for a while until one of them lost patience and punched her in the stomach. The pain immediately knocked her unconscious and the ShadowNet grunts had no choice but to leave her alone for the time being.

Platinum woke up again when someone poured another bucket of ice cold water on her. She slowly opened her eyes and could see that another group of ShadowNet grunts were standing in front of her. Realizing that they were going to hurt her again, she groaned and closed her eyes.

Unfortunately, the heiress found that the process was repeating. The ShadowNet grunts would hurt her for half an hour, leave her alone for the next, and hurt her again for the next half hour. At the end of each ‘wave’, one ShadowNet grunt would always lose patience and hit her wounds. After five hours of this, Platinum could taste blood in her mouth, found it very difficult to breathe, and even passed out every now and then. ShadowNet must’ve given her some medical treatment when she was first captured (as she didn’t die of blood loss yet), but it seemed that they were slowly undoing the help.

Through all the pain she had to go through, Platinum held on to the belief that Red would come to save her. She believed that _someone_ would come… But no one came. Surely it wouldn’t have taken this long for her seniors to find her and mount a rescue… The heiress began to believe that her seniors have indeed abandoned her, and the emotional pain it caused was more than enough to make her forget about the physical torture.

Platinum woke up again when she heard a loud scream coming from the outside. It sounded as if someone else was being tortured. Obviously, the one being tortured was bound to be her ally, but the heiress was glad that she wasn’t the one being tortured.

‘ _At least… at least they are not hurting me anymore…_ ’ Platinum thought as she looked at the wall-mounted clock. It had been over an hour since the last ShadowNet group came to hurt her. Relieved that ShadowNet was torturing someone else, Platinum closed her eyes and tried to get some rest. There was nothing else to do, after all. She couldn’t attempt an escape, as she could barely move. She simply accepted her fate that she would remain a ShadowNet captive for the remainder of her life, however short that may be.

Platinum woke up from her sleep when she heard ShadowNet grunts talking to each other around her. She pretended to be unconscious and listened carefully to what they were saying. She hoped that they weren’t going to hurt her…

“Why did this take so long?” one grunt asked.

“Because this one escaped 3 fucking times and we had to catch her again,” another replied. “But don’t worry. We made sure she won’t escape again. If she can move after 3 hours of continuous torture, then I guess she deserves to be free.”

“Whatever. Wake both of them up and let’s get this moving. We don’t have much time. Our main forces were destroyed and scattered an hour ago.”

“What? How did that happen?”

“You know that narrow three-way section in Route 36? Our main force was moving through there to get to Olivine and those Dex Holders, Team Rocket, the Johto Gym Leaders and Elite Four were waiting for us there! Our ground forces couldn’t do anything because the path was too narrow, and the aerial forces couldn’t do anything either because those damn Dex Holders and their allies attacked from the forest!”

“Oh.”

“Yeah… Anyways, let’s hurry this up. We have orders from above to kill this one, and use the other one to get ransom money after getting information.”

Platinum opened her eyes and pretended to have just woken up when the ShadowNet grunts poured yet another bucket of ice cold water on her. Thanks to them, she was now freezing along with being thirsty, hungry, hurt, and tired. But all of them seemed to have vanished the moment she saw who was lying on the floor in front of her.

Blue was lying face down on the floor, looking horribly beaten. Her arms and feet were tied together with giant steel chains that were locked down tight so that she had no chance of escaping again.

‘ _Senior Blue? Oh no… so ShadowNet was talking about her? 3 hours of continuous torture and the orders to kill her?_ ’

The ShadowNet grunts kicked Blue in the ribs after pouring a bucket of water on her. The girl groaned as she was brought so rudely back into consciousness. One ShadowNet grunt reached down and pulled her by her hair so that Platinum may look at her senior’s face.

“Surely one of you will start talking,” he said with a grin.

“… Platinum!” Blue yelled out. “Don’t you say anything!”

The other ShadowNet grunt pressed a button on a wall-mounted machine. The floor opened up and a giant water tank (and a set of stairs that reached to it) was raised from the gap. The two ShadowNet grunts then forced Blue up to her feet. Platinum could only watch as the two ShadowNet grunts dragged her senior over to the tank and simply shoved her in. But Blue simply swam up to the surface and managed to keep her head above the water.

One of the ShadowNet grunts went back to the wall-mounted machine and pressed another button. The water tank began to close thanks to an automatic lid. The tank was overflowing, so when the lid shut, there was no air for Blue to breathe. The ShadowNet grunts looked at Platinum, expecting her to say something, but the heiress didn’t say anything still.

The two ShadowNet grunts stood beside the water tank and watched as Blue struggled in the tank. It took over a minute, but it seemed that she finally couldn’t take it anymore. Platinum watched in horror as her senior twitched and stopped moving entirely. The Kanto Dex Holder’s body floated to the top of the tank, but because of the lid, she was still submerged.

“Senior…” Platinum muttered as tears fell from her eyes. She closed her eyes and silently sobbed. She couldn’t believe her senior just died…

“Well, I think my job’s done. She drowned, we learned nothing from her, so… it’s your job now,” said one of the ShadowNet grunts to the other as he walked towards the exit. “I got some other work to do, anyways.”

The remaining ShadowNet grunt watched Blue’s motionless body for a minute before he opened the lid. He climbed the set of stairs near the water tank and proceeded to check whether Blue was actually dead. But the moment he reached down to check her pulse, Blue somehow grabbed his hand and dragged him into the water. She wrapped an arm around his neck and began to choke him underwater. Once the ShadowNet grunt stopped flailing, Blue resurfaced and coughed and gasped for air. She reached down to her ankles and picked the lock tying the chains together. Once she was free, she climbed out of the water tank and landed on the floor. But because she was weakened from the continuous torture, she couldn’t maintain balance and collapsed.

Platinum opened her eyes and saw her senior getting back to her feet. “Senior?”

“Hi, Platinum,” Blue said rather weakly. “I came to get you out.”

“But… how did you…”

“Oh, that was easy,” Blue said with a smile. “I only pretended to drown so I could pick the locks without them looking. See, I always keep a pair of paper clips underneath my wristbands. It doesn’t hurt to be prepared. I had to use one on one of the previous escape attempts, so good thing I kept two.” Blue suddenly groaned as her body started to ache from the torture. “… This would’ve been a lot easier if it wasn’t for those electric tortures… I didn’t think they hated me _that_ much…”

Blue reached down and began untying the ropes that bound Platinum to her chair. As she did so, she noticed the poorly bandaged wound on her right forearm. Blue examined her junior’s injuries as she finished untying the ropes.

‘ _Big bleeding stab wound on the forearm, bleeding gash on the stomach, swollen cheeks, bruised shoulders, slightly swollen knees… Wow… she went through a lot more than I expected…_ ’

“Senior,” Platinum said between breaths. She was starting to cry and combined with her difficulties breathing, it was making it nearly impossible for her to talk continuously. “Is… is it true?”

“Huh? What is?”

“Did… did senior Red… abandon me?”

Blue paused. She looked at her junior’s eyes and could see that she was _really_ hurt inside. Blue had thought that the first thing she needed to do was get Platinum to the infirmary, but she needed to change priorities. She knelt down in front of Platinum and gently put her hands on the heiress’s shoulders.

“Of course not. You have no idea how hard I had to try to stop him from coming to save you. I only stopped him because I figured that ShadowNet would kill you if he did anything reckless. That’s why I came here. I purposely got captured so I could save you from the inside.”

“H – How can I… trust you?” Platinum sobbed out. “I – I have been… sitting here… for over nine hours. ShadowNet… kept hurting me… and n – no one… tried to save me…”

“Well, I came for you. Come on, Platinum. Think reasonably. You’re always calm and rational. Listen, you didn’t do anything to get on Red’s bad side. I’ve known him for ten years now. He’ll never abandon his friends or allies. And besides, we didn’t even know where ShadowNet took you. I only managed to find you because they took me to the same place where they were holding you.” Blue glanced at the open door. “Platinum, I want you to try to calm down, okay? Once you’re calm, let me know when you’re ready to get out of here.”

Blue rose to her feet and quietly walked towards the door. She quickly shut it and locked it from the inside. She then headed towards the water tank and dragged the unconscious ShadowNet grunt out. After tying his arms and legs together, she slapped him until he woke up. There were some questions he needed to answer…

“What… where…” the grunt mumbled as he took a look around.

“Good. Now that you’re awake, you need to start talking,” Blue said.

“How did you get free?” the grunt asked.

“I’ll ask the questions!” Blue snapped at him. “Where did you put Platinum’s stuff?”

“They’re in the commander’s office! In the third floor!”

“Okay. Where are we? What floor and what city?”

“Basement, Azalea Town.”

“How many guys do you have in this building?”

“Around 10 per floor.”

“Okay. Last question. Where are the medical supplies? I need the closest one.”

“Uh… check the washroom a bit down the hall. The infirmary’s further down the hall.”

“Thanks.”

“You’re… you’re not going to kill me, are you?” the grunt asked.

“Only if I find out that you were lying,” Blue replied. She delivered a swift kick to the side of the head, knocking the grunt out cold. She removed the set of keys on the grunt and walked over to Platinum and crouched in front of her. “Feeling better?”

“I – I apologize, senior,” Platinum said quietly. “I have been told that… senior Red was not going to save me, and that… he… he wanted me to die…” She started to sob again and Blue once again had to calm her down.

“You know that’s not true. He’s worried sick about you. Whoever told you that was trying to separate you from him.”

“That thought came to me as well, but… no one came…”

“I understand how you feel. You’ve been through quite a lot today. But trust me. _No one_ has abandoned you.”

Platinum took a shuddering breath and steadily calmed down. “Thank you, senior… I… I think I am ready now.”

“Great. Come on, let’s get out of here so you can rest.”

Blue helped her junior get to her feet. Platinum wasn’t able to stay on her feet, however, so Blue had to support her from the left.

“Senior, where are we going first?”

“We’re going to the washroom. I’ll have to clean your wound and try to heal you a little before we escape.”

The two girls opened the door and peeked outside. No one was outside, so they looked around to see where the washroom was. They could see it several doors across to the right and were about to get to it when someone appeared from around the corner. The two girls hid and listened carefully.

The grunt walked towards the men’s washroom and tried to open it. It was locked, so he knocked on the door.

“Hey, open up!” he yelled.

“Password, please,” came the reply from the inside.

“You’ve got to be kidding me! What password?”

“The password so we don’t open the door for girls.”

“Do I sound like a girl to you?”

“Well, you could be held prisoner by girls.”

“… If I was held prisoner by girls and knew the password, then the girls could just force me to tell you the password, and you’d open the door for them.”

“… Okay, well now I’m definitely not going to open the door.”

“But I really need to go!”

“Well why don’t you ask your girl buddies, then?”

The ShadowNet grunt kept knocking for half a minute but the door still didn’t open. As he had no choice, he went into the women’s washroom right beside while grumbling. Blue peeked out of the room just in time to see him.

“Great… now we can’t go into the washroom. We’ll have to go to the infirmary.” She looked left and right and saw no one around. She turned to look at Platinum, who kept her good arm around her bleeding wound. “We should go now.”

Blue supported her junior from the left once again. The two girls quickly left the room and after shutting the door, headed towards the infirmary on the other end of the hallway. Platinum couldn’t (and shouldn’t) move quickly, but she clenched her teeth and forced herself to keep up with Blue.

Upon arriving at the infirmary, Platinum leaned against the wall and tried to catch her breath. Blue took a worried glance at her before placing her ear on the door. She detected no movements inside, so she carefully opened the door. No one was inside, so she let Platinum enter and locked the door shut.

“Platinum, go lie on the bed,” Blue ordered, pointing to the small elevated bed in the edge of the room.

The heiress struggled onto the bed and lay down. Blue took a towel from the cabinet and tossed it to her junior.

“Try to wipe some of the blood.”

Platinum carefully took the towel and dabbed at the wound on her stomach. Blue glanced around and gathered the necessary medicine and bandages. She soon stood beside her junior and took a deep breath.

“Lift up your shirt a little.”

Platinum lifted her vest a little and further opened the tear in her dress underneath. “How is it, senior?”

Blue removed the crudely wrapped bandages and upon seeing the open wound, looked away for a second. “Ugh… this is a lot more blood than I am comfortable with…” She took a clean towel and dabbed it in disinfectant. “This is going to hurt like hell,” she warned Platinum. “Try not to scream…”

The heiress shut her eyes and braced herself. The process was messy (in Blue’s perspective) and very painful, but Platinum managed to remain perfectly quiet. She had tears falling from her eyes at the end, but no sound was made. Once the disinfecting process was complete, Blue placed a medical patch over the gaping wound in order to stop the bleeding and quicken the healing. Afterwards, she wrapped new bandages over the patch to prevent it from falling off.

Blue sighed and looked at her junior’s right forearm. She removed the crudely wrapped bandages and saw that the wound there wasn’t any better than the one she had just taken care of. But once that wound was taken care of (twice, as the Scyther’s blade had stabbed completely through the heiress’s forearm), Blue sighed in relief and washed her hands.

Platinum carefully sat up and looked at her senior. To her surprise (and horror), her senior was holding a giant needle and was looking at her.

“Um… senior? What is that for?”

“Painkiller. For you.”

“I – I do not think that is necessary,” Platinum stammered.

“You sure?” Blue asked. Seeing her junior nod, she threw the needle away. “All right then. Let’s get going.”

“Senior, what about you? You have been through 3 hours of continuous torture.”

“Nah, I’ll be fine. It’s just electric torture. I’ve been zapped by Red’s Pika a few times, and one unfortunate case of Zap Cannon from Green’s Porygon2. And every single time, Green just tells me to walk it off.”

“Oh…”

“Anyways, let’s get moving.”

The two girls left the infirmary and soon found the stairs. Though it was hard, Platinum did her best to keep up. She was feeling a lot better, thanks to Blue reassuring her and helping her heal in the infirmary. As a result, the heiress had little problems walking.

The two Dex Holders carefully ascended the stairs, being cautious of patrolling ShadowNet grunts. They weren’t able to take the stairs all the way to the third floor because the security was getting tight. So instead, they headed towards the storage room, which was connected to the garage. The two girls hid behind a giant box in the large storage room and waited to see if there were any grunts around.

“Senior, how are we going to retrieve my belongings?” Platinum whispered.

“We’re going to get out of this building through the garage or through the windows if there are too many ShadowNet grunts there. From there, I’ll find a way to the commander’s office. I’m not entirely sure yet.” Blue suddenly pressed herself against the box. “Wait… I hear someone…”

Platinum focused on her hearing and could hear a ShadowNet grunt talking to another one.

“Hey Jim,” he started.

“Yeah, what is it?” asked the other one, sounding as if he was on the opposite side of the storage room.

“You said there were eight crates in the delivery. But I only see seven.”

“What do you mean, seven?”

“As in, one less than eight!”

“Well, the bill of lading said there were eight.”

“Did you count?”

“Uh… well, not exactly.”

“Not exactly? It’s just not that hard to count _eight giant crates_!”

Blue was about to peek around the box when she heard a third and fourth voice from afar.

“Watch where you point that thing!”

“Relax. It’s non-lethal.”

“So? Have you ever been hit by one of those?”

“No.”

“Well, Billy has. And I don’t want to end up like him.”

“What do you mean?”

“Look over there. … … … See? It made him stupid.”

Platinum peeked around the box and looked at Blue. “Senior, what is going on?”

“I think ShadowNet’s using an experimental weapon. I don’t know for sure. Maybe the commander’s office has some answers.” Blue glanced around the box once more. “All right. Everyone’s far away from us, so let’s keep moving.”

The two girls quietly snuck around, hiding behind boxes and crates. The garage was packed with ShadowNet grunts, so they had to use the open windows to exit. It was currently 1 am, so there were only a couple of grunts patrolling around outside, so it wasn’t hard to sneak through the windows without being spotted. Blue had to help Platinum climb through first before climbing herself.

The two Dex Holders made their way towards the rear of the building. There were no lights in the area, so they had little concern of being spotted. Blue peeked around the corner and could see another pair of ShadowNet grunts (one grunt and one with a different uniform) knocking on a door.

“Damn, another pair…” Blue said. She looked back at Platinum. “We’ll have to wait a short while again.”

“Hey, open up!” came the grunt’s voice from around the corner.

“Password,” came a slightly muffled voice, presumably from the grunt on the other side of the door.

“What?”

“Need the password!”

“You’ve got to be kidding me! What password?”

“Password! They gave it out at the staff meeting fifteen minutes ago!”

“Meeting? What meeting? I was out here!”

“Not supposed to let anyone in without it!”

“If the staff meeting just ended, no one outside is going to know the freaking password! Now open up! I need to drink something and the squad leader’s out here!”

“… Does he know the password?”

“He wasn’t at the meeting either!”

Blue waited until the ShadowNet grunt and squad leader _finally_ forced the other grunt to open the door. 10 seconds after the door closed, the Kanto girl peeked around and with Platinum, carefully moved on.

After another 10 minutes of walking/sneaking around, Platinum suddenly groaned as she stopped walking.

“Senior… I do not think I can go on,” she said between breaths.

Blue looked at her junior worriedly as she helped her sit on the ground. The heiress leaned against the wall and tried to steady her breathing. Blue let out a sigh.

“Well… we still don’t know where the commander’s office is, and no way of escaping here. It’s not like I can leave you alone here, either. You need to get to the hospital as fast as possible, but…”

“Well? What else can I do?” came a voice from above.

Blue quickly crouched down and pressed herself against the wall. She looked around to see where the voice came from. There was an open window on the third floor of the building, so Blue quietly moved away from the wall so she could look into the room. There was a ShadowNet grunt standing in front of the window, yelling at another grunt who was further inside the room. Blue couldn’t hear the second grunt, but she could hear the first one loud and clear.

“You told me to check if the commander left the air conditioning on in his office; I kind of actually have to _enter_ the office! … … Of course I used the door code!”

‘ _Door code?_ ’ Blue thought. ‘ _They have door codes? Damn… how am I supposed to find Platinum’s stuff if they have door codes? The doors on the basement didn’t need codes…_ ’

“… Of course!” the ShadowNet grunt yelled, continuing his (quite helpful) rant. “… … What do you mean, “not secure”? _No one_ is listening! You are paranoid! … … What? Do not say the door code? 3490! 3490, 3490! 3490! There, I said it! I said the code! What are you going to do about it? … … Oh, oh, oh, I’m _terrified_!”

Blue smiled as she looked at Platinum. “Well, it looks like we found where the commander’s office is. Platinum, you stay here for a while. I’ll be right back.”

“Senior, do you intend to leave me here alone while you go back into the building?” the heiress whispered, fear evident in her expression. “You do not know how long it will take you to reach the office.”

“Don’t worry. You’ll be able to see me,” Blue said reassuringly.

Platinum appeared confused. “I apologize, but I do not understand.”

“Watch.”

Blue took a brief look around and approached a drainage pipe. She shook it and was relieved to know that it was attached firmly to the wall. Just like she did with the Rocket base the previous day, she began to climb the drainage pipe. Once she reached the third floor, she carefully moved onto the windowsill.

By the time Blue arrived at the open window, the grunts inside were already gone. Blue looked inside for a few seconds before climbing in. As half-expected, the room she was in was not the commander’s office, but the commander’s secretary’s. The door to the commander’s office was right beside the window. Blue entered the code that the ShadowNet grunt had so willingly given. The door opened and Blue quietly entered.

Inside the office, Blue quickly searched the area. She found Platinum’s bag on the desk and looked inside. It appeared that no one had bothered to look through it yet, as everything was in very neat order. Platinum’s Pokémon seemed very happy to see her. Blue searched through the documents on the desk and grabbed whatever she felt seemed important (which was all of them). She then searched through the shelves and drawers and soon spotted the ShadowNet commander’s laptop.

With a grin, Blue took out Platinum’s Pokéballs and Pokégear and stuffed the laptop and all the documents inside the bag. She quickly left the commander’s office and sent out Platinum’s Pokémon through the window to the ground below.

Platinum gasped in shock when her Pokémon appeared in front of her. With a bright smile, she tried to reach up to them. Her Pokémon quickly ran up to her and embraced her.

“Platinum!” Blue whispered from above. “Send your Lopunny up here!”

“Yes senior! Lopunny, please hop up to the window and assist senior Blue.”

The Lopunny did as told and with one strong leap, landed softly on the windowsill. Blue gave it Platinum’s bag and the Rabbit Pokémon took it and hopped back down. The heiress took it and found it very odd that it was so heavy, but she let it slide. She figured that Blue had put something in it, probably something that once belonged to the ShadowNet commander.

Blue landed on the ground near the drainage pipe a few minutes later and returned Platinum’s Pokémon back into their Pokéballs. She gave them to Platinum and the heiress put them in her bag.

Blue called Green with Platinum’s Pokégear.

“Hello?” came the Gym Leader’s voice.

“Green!” Blue said happily. “It’s great to hear from you again! Anyways, I found Platinum in Azalea Town, saved her, got a bunch of information from the ShadowNet commander’s desk, and we’re ready to go back to Pallet Town.”

“Very well then. I’ll be over there within an hour. Don’t hang up; Crystal will be tracing this call.”

“All right.” Blue looked over at Platinum. “Okay, Green is coming to get us. We can’t really move anymore, so we’ll just have to wait.”

“I understand.” Platinum let out a sigh of relief. “Thank you very much for coming for me, senior. I was right in believing that someone would come and rescue me…”

…

Pallet Town…

…

“Crystal, I want you to trace the location of Blue and Platinum right now,” Green ordered. “I’ll be on my way to Azalea Town.”

Crystal stifled a yawn and forced herself to focus on her laptop. She received Green’s Pokégear and connected it to her laptop. She glanced at the clock and looked at Green.

“It’s 1:30 right now. It’ll be near 3:30 when you return. Are you sure you’re going to be okay?”

“I’ll be fine. Once you finish tracing, let me know exactly where they are, then go to sleep. You’ve done enough today.”

“Okay… although technically, ‘today’ started only ninety minutes ago.”

By the time Green arrived in Azalea Town, it was 2:30. ShadowNet patrols were dozing, making things much easier for the Gym Leader. With Blue’s Silph Scope, he could see the two female Dex Holders sitting on the ground next to a big building.

Platinum had fallen asleep and Blue stayed awake to guard her. She was really tired as well, but if she slept too, then there would be no way of protecting herself and Platinum if they were to be spotted by ShadowNet. The only thing she could do was make sure that Platinum was warm in the ShadowNet Johto commander’s coat (also stolen from the office).

Once Green’s Charizard landed, Blue took the coat off and slung Platinum’s bag across her shoulder. She had Green carefully lift the heiress onto the Charizard so that she would sleep safely between the two Kanto Dex Holders.

The two Kanto Dex Holders went to the hospital in Viridian City first so that they could drop off Platinum. Once the heiress was safely in the hospital, the two Kanto Dex Holders returned to Pallet Town. It was 4 in the morning, but they still had work to do, namely look over the stolen documents from the ShadowNet commander’s office and search through the stolen laptop.

…

August 15, 9:30 am…

…

Blue looked up from the stolen document. The documents were all about ShadowNet’s current research projects and she had learned a great deal about what the enemy was trying to make. The conversation she had overheard earlier was referring to a handheld weapon that fired Electro Ball shots. According to the documents, the weapon was in the testing stages, and was known to zap the user as well as the intended target. But the document she was holding was different. It was an order from the top of ShadowNet’s command, the boss.

“Green, where’s Silver?” Blue asked.

“He’s on his way to Sinnoh’s Solaceon Town,” the Gym Leader replied. “With the fast ships provided by Lt. Surge, he should arrive at Canalave City in… 5 hours.”

“Why’s he going to Sinnoh?”

“We intercepted a radio call from the Johto HQ going to somewhere in Sinnoh. Professor Elm thinks that it’s going to the center of Sinnoh, so either Hearthome City or Solaceon Town. My instincts told me that it would be Solaceon.”

“Good. This sheet has the order for the Johto commander, and it implies a ShadowNet presence somewhere in Solaceon Town.” Blue looked at the sheet again and froze. “Oh no… ShadowNet sent a large task force to… Seven Island!” Blue used her headset to get both Gold and Crystal. “Gold, Crys, I want you two to go over to Vermillion City right now and take the fastest ship to Seven Island. ShadowNet sent a task force there to do something, and I want you two to stop them!”

“Got it,” came Gold’s reply.

“Okay, we’re on the way,” came Crystal’s.

“Ruby, go over to Violet City. ShadowNet’s planning something there,” Blue ordered. “Just see what it is they’re up to, and stop them if you think it’s urgent.”

“All right,” Ruby said through his headset.

Blue looked over at Green. “Green, I think you should just order everyone from now on. I heard that you destroyed ShadowNet’s main force while I was in captivity.”

“That’s true, yes. But right now, you and I both need to rest. We’ll leave Red and Yellow in charge for now.”

“I don’t know if that’s such a good idea.”

“Don’t worry. With Yellow beside him, Red won’t do anything reckless.” Green rose to his feet. “At any rate, I am going to sleep for a few hours. You should too. We’ll let sis, Bill, and Professor Elm take a look at the ShadowNet laptop.”

“I guess…”

On his way to his house, Green spotted Yellow talking to Emerald. Upon seeing the Gym Leader, the girl went up to greet him.

“Oh, Green, you look very tired,” she said in a worried tone. “You should get some rest.”

“I know. I’m going home for that,” Green replied. “Blue will be resting too. You and Red will be in charge of everything for now.”

“Eh? Me? Um… I don’t know if I can…” Yellow stammered, but Green stopped her.

“You’ll do fine.” Green opened the lab’s front door and stepped out. He looked at Yellow one last time before shutting the door. “Wake me, when you need me.”

…

Meanwhile…

…

D: Sir, it seems that the two prisoner Dex Holders have escaped.

L: Damn it. I told you to kill Blue!

D: Well… we tried to get some information, but that failed. And we believed that she drowned during one of the attempts to interrogate the younger Dex Holder, but apparently she was faking it.

L: … Whatever. Project 05-032 is ready. Charge it up and activate it.

D: Yes sir. But it seems that the Johto commander’s office has been ransacked, and several important documents and a laptop are missing. The Dex Holders may know what we’re up to.

L: Send some of our best squads to patrol around from One Island to Three Island. Make sure _nothing_ gets to Seven Island. For that group we sent to Sinnoh, tell them to wait near Sandgem Town. I have a new mission for them.

D: Yes sir.

L: It’s time we start eliminating Dex Holders one by one. The group going to Sinnoh will be able to get rid of one.

D: But… none of the Dex Holders are in Sinnoh.

L: You’ll see.

…

/ / FRAGMENT 5/7 [RECORDED VERBATIM AND INTERPRETED PRE-CATACLYSM]

S: He’s activating it.

J: It’s about time.

S: He won’t succeed. The Dex Holders know of the project and its location. ShadowNet made one stupid mistake of building the stabilizer in the same structure as the signal amplifier. When the Dex Holders destroy the building, there will be nothing to stop the little project from going rampant.

J: So what do you want me to do?

S: Make sure our version doesn’t need a stabilizer.

J: Fine. Whatever.

/ / FRAGMENT ENDS

* * *

**As a reminder (or new piece of information, if I didn’t say this before), L and D are created guys. They don’t exist in Pokémon Special. S and J on the other hand…**

* * *

What Could Have Been (no conditions):

“Damn, another one,” Blue said. She looked over at Platinum. “We’ll have to wait a short while again.”

“Hey, open up!” the ShadowNet grunt yelled.

“What’s the password?” came the reply from the other side of the door.

“Password? Oh man… I forgot.”

“Forgot… what?”

“I forgot the password.”

“See, that was almost right. Uh, see, the password begins with ‘I forgot’, but ends differently. Uh, try again.”

“No. I mean, I forgot the password.”

“No, okay, see, you… you got it wrong again. See, you said the same thing as last time.”

“I’m being serious; I don’t know the password!”

“No, no, no, see, you changed the first part. See, that… that part was the right part. See, now you’ve got the whole thing wrong!”

“No! I forgot what the password is and I just need you to _open the door!_ ”

“All right, come on, man! Now you’re just guessing!”


	19. The Oracle

Chapter 18: The Oracle

August 15th, 10 am, Pallet Town…

“Uh… excuse me.”

Blue turned around and could see Diamond and Pearl looking at her. “What is it?”

“I was just wondering if you could give us a lift to Viridian City,” Diamond replied. “I want to see if the Lady is okay.”

Blue grinned. “Oh, I’m sure it’s _really_ important for you. Ask Sapphire. She’s probably going to see Platinum anyways, so she’ll be glad to give you a ride.”

“Wait, what do you mean, really important?” Pearl asked.

“You didn’t know?” Blue asked. “Your little friend _likes_ Platinum. That’s probably why he’s so anxious to go see her.”

“Really?” Pearl looked at Diamond and grinned. “Way to go, Dia! Marry a rich girl like Miss Lady and all your financial problems will be over!”

“You know that’s not the reason why I like her,” Diamond said with a frown.

“Oh, how cute. So you really do like her,” Blue said with a warm smile. “I’ll help you get her. I don’t think she knows that you like her, but… she’ll know soon enough!”

Diamond looked rather embarrassed but soon bowed and walked away. He wasn’t _quite_ ready to visit Platinum. He needed to do something first, and he was sure that the heiress would appreciate his fully prepared visit. Pearl followed him so that he could discuss how exactly the relaxed Dex Holder was going to tell Platinum. Once Diamond and Pearl had left, Blue reached for her headset and contacted Red.

“Red, where are you?”

“Right outside the lab. Why?”

“I need you to go visit Platinum in Viridian City hospital _now_.”

“Well, okay. I was about to go there anyways. But what’s the hurry?”

Blue sighed. “It’s _really_ important that you go and talk to her.”

“How important?”

“Let’s just say that… if you don’t go and talk to her soon, she’ll lose faith in all of her seniors.”

“Whoa… that’s… quite important, I guess,” Red muttered. “All right. I’m going.”

Blue shut off her headset and headed outside. She was going to rest, but first, she was going to go to Route 36. She had heard from ShadowNet grunts in Azalea Town, but she still wanted to see where and how Green destroyed the ShadowNet main attack force. Blue made sure that she had Ditto on her somewhere and with Wigglytuff, headed towards Johto.

Ten minutes later, someone knocked on the door to the lab and Emerald opened it. He could see a boy and a girl both taller than him (who’s _not_ taller than him?) waiting on the doorsteps.

“Can I help you?” the Hoenn Dex Holder asked.

“Hi, there,” said the girl nicely as she crouched down slightly so that she could stay at eye level with him. Emerald instantly recognized the girl’s tone and posture. He saw Crystal use the same tone and posture when she was dealing with little kids at Earl’s Academy… Completely oblivious to the fact that she had just pissed off the Hoenn Dex Holder, the girl continued. “Is this Professor Oak’s laboratory?”

Emerald gritted his teeth as he reached for his Pokéballs. “Yes… and you just made the _worst_ mistake of your life…”

“Huh? What do you mean?” the girl asked.

“Miss President! Get ready for a battle!” yelled the boy beside her.

“Eh? But… why?” the girl asked. Before she knew it, there was a big green Pokémon looming over her. “Ah!”

The girl and the boy both reached for their Pokéballs but before the impromptu battle could occur, Yellow appeared from inside the lab.

“… What’s going on here?”

…

A few minutes later, Viridian City hospital…

…

Platinum woke up from her short sleep and before opening her eyes, took a few moments to collect her thoughts. After ensuring that her rescue was not a dream and that she was perfectly safe, she ran a series of tests to see the conditions of her injuries. The heiress noticed that she only had minor difficulties breathing and felt significantly less pain upon touching the Scyther wound on her stomach. She could move her right hand slightly, but it still hurt. It appeared that she’ll need several more days of treatment from the hospital before she would be able to exert any force with that hand.

“Hey, Platinum, are you awake?” came a voice from beside.

The heiress opened her eyes and turned to her right and could see Red looking at her. “… Senior Red?”

“Hey, so you are awake. That’s good,” said the Kanto champion with a smile. “So, how are you feeling?”

“Senior! I – I was right! You did not abandon me!” Platinum exclaimed happily.

“Abandon you? Now why would I do that?”

Platinum sat up straight and proceeded to tell her senior what she had been told since her task in Violet City. A few tears formed on her eyes when she told him about what she had to go through during her captivity.

“I am really glad that you do not hate me, senior,” Platinum said as she wiped away the forming tears.

“You shouldn’t believe what anybody else says in matters like this,” Red said. “Trust your instincts. You know I wouldn’t leave any teammate or friend behind.”

“I did not believe any of it either, but when no one came to my aid…” Platinum shook her head and smiled brightly. “But all of that no longer matters. To answer your question, I am doing great. Though it is difficult for me to move my right hand, I am sure that that will change soon.”

“That’s good. I’d like you to recover quickly, but take your time and relax. I don’t want you to hurt yourself again.”

Platinum was about to ask what happened since her mission in Violet City when Red’s headset emitted static noise. Red pressed a button on the headset and he could hear Yellow talking.

“Senior, is something wrong?” Platinum asked once the conversation was over.

“No, but I need to get back to Pallet Town,” Red replied. “Apparently there are a couple of new Dex Holders who visited Professor Oak’s lab. Yellow wants me to come back so I can meet them.”

“New Dex Holders?” Platinum asked. “Do you mean that there is yet another Dex Holder after Diamond?”

“Yeah. I’ll go talk to them and see what they’re like.” Red pulled out a new headset from the pocket of his jacket and placed it on the table beside Platinum’s bed. “Here. This is yours. Crys sent a message containing the instructions to everyone, so check your Pokégear.”

“Yes, senior. Thank you very much.”

Once Red left, Platinum leaned back once again and took out her Pokégear. She didn’t notice it before, but she did receive a message from Crystal. She took her headset and checked it over completely while reading over the instructions. She didn’t want to use it at the moment as she didn’t want to distract anyone, but she was sure that she understood exactly how to use it.

A few minutes later, as Platinum set her Pokégear and headset down on the table, someone knocked on the door and entered. The heiress looked and could see Sapphire and Pearl.

“Hey, rookie, how’re you doing?” Sapphire asked. “Feeling okay?”

“Ah, senior Sapphire! Yes, I am doing great, thank you,” Platinum replied with a short bow. She sat up straight and smiled brightly. “And Pearl too. Thank you very much for coming.”

“Hi, Miss Lady. I’m glad to see you’re okay,” Pearl said. “I heard what happened, and I can tell you that stuff like that will never happen again.”

“Thank you for your concern.” Platinum glanced past her two visitors but saw no one else. “Where is Diamond? Is he on a mission?”

“No,” Sapphire answered. “Dia’s b-”

“Dia said that he couldn’t see you without bringing a gift and he’s getting it right now,” Pearl quickly interrupted. “It’s supposed to be a secret!” he whispered to Sapphire immediately afterwards.

“Right… sorry,” Sapphire whispered back.

Platinum appeared slightly confused at them whispering, but soon decided that it was not her business. Instead, she asked them what was happening outside the hospital, a question that she tried to ask Red. Sapphire and Pearl tried their best to answer. The three talked for over an hour and Platinum no longer felt so alone and left out.

“Oh, senior Sapphire, have you heard?” Platinum asked abruptly. “Apparently there are new Dex Holders after Diamond. I have heard that they are currently visiting Professor Oak’s laboratory.”

“Really?” Sapphire asked. “I didn’t see them. I guess we left just before they arrived.” A thought occurred and she suddenly looked a little… depressed. “So I guess this means that I have more juniors? Why do I suddenly feel so old? I felt so young a week ago…”

“What do you mean, senior?” Platinum asked.

“A week ago, I was one of the _junior_ Dex Holders. Now? I don’t know anymore…” Sapphire sighed again. “At least I’m not on the senior side yet. Anyways, rest up, rookie. I’m going to go meet my new junior.”

“I guess I’ll go too,” Pearl said. “I want to see my only juniors too. Finally, someone to boss around!”

“Oh, Pearl, before you go, I would appreciate it if you take this with you,” Platinum said as she took out her notebook from her bag. “You have seen this once before. It contains all of the documented characteristics and history of all our seniors. I do believe that this will be invaluable for the new Dex Holders.”

Platinum tossed her notebook and Pearl caught it. “Thanks, Miss Lady. Well, I’ll see you later then.”

The two visitors left Platinum’s hospital room and immediately ran into Diamond in the hallway. The relaxed Dex Holder was carrying a large plate with a lid covering it, concealing the food contained.

“So, Dia, everything’s ready?” Sapphire asked with a smile.

“Yes. I just hope she likes it,” Diamond replied.

Pearl patted his friend on the shoulder. “Good luck, Dia. She’s all yours.”

Diamond took a nervous breath and opened the door. He could see Platinum on the bed and he could instantly tell that she was still hurting. Upon seeing him, the heiress gave him a bright smile.

“Hello, Diamond. I am glad you could come.”

“Lady, are you okay?” Diamond asked. He looked very worried.

“Yes, I am getting better. Thank you for your concern.”

Diamond sat beside her and set the plate on the empty spot on the bed. “I’m really sorry I wasn’t there for you. But I promise that I’ll always be there for you from now on. I won’t let the enemy hurt you again.”

Platinum smiled sheepishly. “Thank you, Diamond.”

Diamond took a nervous breath. ‘ _It’s now or never…_ ’ “Lady, I… need to tell you something.”

Platinum appeared a little concerned. “What is it?”

“I… like you, Lady. I always have,” Diamond said while still holding his breath.

“I like you too, Diamond,” Platinum said with a warm smile.

“Really?” Diamond asked. His heart leapt with joy…

“Of course. We are friends, are we not? It is natural for two friends to like each other, no?”

… and crashed back to its original place. “… Right… of course.” ‘ _Well, that went well…_ ’

“Or did you mean something else?” Platinum asked.

“No,” Diamond answered. He was afraid of trying again. He felt that he was sort of pushing his luck to begin with. In a desperate attempt to change the topic, he lifted his plate off of the bed. “Here, I made this for you,” he said as he raised the lid, revealing a fantastic looking pie.

Platinum smiled again, but appeared a little troubled. “I highly appreciate it, but I do not think I can eat it. The doctors have warned me that I should only eat foods that have been approved by a doctor.”

“I know. This pie has already been approved,” Diamond said. “And I know you’re going to like it. It’s the same pie you ate during your Super Contest in Hearthome City.” Platinum still appeared a little hesitant, so Diamond continued. “Lady, I know that you probably don’t feel like eating anything, but I can assure you that this pie is good for you. Do you trust me?”

Platinum soon nodded. “Yes. I trust you.”

Diamond took out a small plate, a fork, and a cutting knife from his bag and cut a slice of pie. He put the slice on the plate and gave it to Platinum and she took it with her good hand. But the problem soon occurred as the heiress was unable to hold the fork with her other hand. Diamond saw her struggle and instantly felt a pang of remorse. She looked so helpless… He set the large plate on the table behind his chair and took the fork and the small plate from Platinum.

“Here,” Diamond said as he lifted a small portion of the pie with the fork.

Platinum looked away for a short while. She appeared embarrassed and even ashamed for having to be fed. “Sorry…” she muttered out.

“Don’t mention it.”

The heiress soon opened her mouth and accepted the piece of pie Diamond was offering. She smiled as she savored the flavor.

“Diamond, you are a wonderful cook,” she said after swallowing. “The pie is very delicious.”

“I’m glad you like it,” Diamond said with a smile. He lifted another piece of the pie with the fork and Platinum was ready. For the first time since Platinum’s departure for Violet City the previous day, Diamond felt happy. Sure his attempted confession failed miserably, but he was still glad that Platinum was safe and that she still considered him as a friend. That was good enough for now. Perhaps when he attempts a second confession, the heiress will understand what he means and feels the same way.

…

Route 36, Johto, 12 pm…

…

Blue woke up from her short sleep when her Wigglytuff landed on the ground. She stretched her tired limbs and hopped off. She returned her Ditto (seatbelt/blanket function) and Wigglytuff to their Pokéballs so they could get their deserved rest.

Blue was about to take a step forward when the status of Route 36 registered in her brain. The route was a mess. Many trees have been uprooted and utterly destroyed. It was evident that a chaotic battle had taken place here not long ago. She slowly proceeded to examine the area and see if she could figure out what exactly Green had done.

Before long, she came across the three-way section of the route where the majority of the battle against the ShadowNet ground forces had taken place. It seemed that the ShadowNet grunts were… slightly misinformed. She had heard that Green had all his allies attack from the trees, but that wasn’t entirely accurate. Blue studied the area carefully. There was a huge section of torched trees and there was a new… river flowing nearby.

‘ _Green… what did you do here?_ ’ Blue thought as she eyed the newly created river.

Soon, she nodded in understanding. She had a rough idea of what Green did to the route. As far as she could tell, Green had set fire to the forest to force the ShadowNet ground forces to move to an area and flooded the area by using the nearest river. The ShadowNet ground forces would have been wiped out completely from the sudden flood and the aerial forces wouldn’t have been able to see because of the smoke from the forest fire.

“Wow…” Blue muttered. “So all those strategy books he reads during his spare time helped him after all… Maybe I should read those too…”

Blue figured that this was why Green was able to win against the bulk of the ShadowNet forces and yet wasn’t tired at all. Sure, the environmentalists would be pissed because of all the burnt trees and Pokémon forced to evacuate, but clearly beating ShadowNet as easily as possible was a lot more important.

Blue looked across the new river and saw a perfectly green forest which wasn’t affected at all by the fire and flooding. She assumed that that was where Green and his team stayed. Blue wanted to go over there to see what Green was seeing, so she approached the new river. She considered in simply crossing the river through the air (i.e. Wigglytuff) but decided against it. Her Wigglytuff was tired at the moment, and she needed it to rest up for the return flight to Pallet Town. And since she had forgotten to bring her Blastoise (half of her Pokémon were with her team members and Blue had forgotten to retrieve them), Blue had no choice but to cross the new river by herself.

The water wasn’t that deep and wasn’t running that fast either. It seemed that the water level had gone down since the initial flooding. Blue looked at the water and estimated that the deepest part would reach up to her thighs. She took a step into the water and noticed that it was… really cold. Damn…

The new river wasn’t that wide across but given that she wasn’t able to walk fast in water, Blue estimated that she would be able to finish crossing in 5 minutes. Halfway across the river, she could hear someone yelling from behind.

“You! Lass!”

Blue turned around and could see an old man appearing to be in his nineties looking at her. She pointed at herself, asking the old man if he was talking to her.

“Yes, you! There’s no one else around here!” the old man yelled again. “Come over here!”

Blue didn’t like the way the old man was yelling at her, but seeing how he was so much older, she had no choice but to remain polite. She headed towards the old man as fast as she could manage.

“How may I help?” Blue asked politely.

“How am I supposed to get to Ecruteak City when there’s a new river here?” the old man demanded. The way he was talking, it gave Blue the impression that he was blaming her for the flooding. “You’re going to help me cross.”

“Oh… I do have a Ditto and a Wigglytuff that may help you cross,” Blue said.

“Is that how you’d treat a senior? Just get your Pokémon to manhandle them? Shut your trap and carry me across!”

Blue clenched her teeth but complied nonetheless. She lifted the old man onto her back and started to walk again. The old man was a lot heavier than he appeared and he kept nudging her rather roughly on the back of the head with his walking staff. Blue briefly considered in simply dropping the old man in the middle of the water, but decided against it.

Eventually, Blue reached the other side of the water and carefully set the old man onto the ground when he said something utterly shocking.

“Damn it, I left my bag on the other side because I was so busy getting your slow mind’s attention!”

Blue fought the urge to grit her teeth and instead, forced herself to think happy thoughts and appear as calm and polite as ever.

“I’ll go and get it for you,” she offered.

“So you intend on leaving me alone here, do you? How dare you. Just shut up and carry me again.”

Blue had no choice but to carry the old man again and walk across the river once more. She clenched her teeth and tried her absolute best to avoid appearing upset. She figured that if she was to abandon the old man right now, then her previous help would have no meaning. But if she helped once again, then her help would have twice the meaning. This time, since Blue was carrying him across the river again without complaining, the old man didn’t bother her at all.

Eventually, Blue finished crossing the river for the third time and set the old man on the ground again. She was absolutely exhausted and freezing due to exposure to cold water. The old man slowly walked towards the nearest tree and signaled Blue to follow. The girl did as told, glad that she wasn’t ordered to cross the river again.

The old man sat down in the shade of the tree and looked at Blue.

“Sit and rest,” he said. When Blue did as told, the old man spoke, oddly nicely this time. “So why did you carry me across the river the second time?”

“Um… I just believed that if I left, then my previous help would lose all meaning. But if I help the second time, then it would have twice the meaning,” Blue answered honestly.

The old man nodded slowly and thought for a second. “What’s your name and how old are you?”

“My name is Blue and I’m 21 years old,” Blue answered.

“Hmm… so you’re the one I was supposed to meet…” the old man muttered.

“I beg your pardon?”

“You are one of the Pokédex Holders, right?”

“Yes. I am the third one.”

The old man sighed. “I was hoping you weren’t a Pokédex Holder… this is bad…” He reached into his bag and pulled out a Pokéball. Blue instantly reached into her bag and grabbed her Pokéballs, just in case. The old man sent out his Pokémon. “Do you know what Pokémon this is?”

Blue looked at the Pokémon, but she didn’t recognize it. It appeared to be a Psychic type, though. “No, I don’t think I’ve ever seen it before.”

“It’s called a Gothitelle. It’s not native in Kanto or Johto. Or Hoenn or Sinnoh, for that matter. It’s a Pokémon capable to looking at the stars’ positions and movements to predict the future. It’s also capable of seeing their trainers’ life spans. But mine has a tendency of predicting other people’s lives and not mine. I don’t know why, but then again, I don’t know want to know. Yesterday, it told me that I’ll meet someone very famous today whose life is running short.”

Blue looked very alarmed. “Do you mean that I’m going to die soon?”

The old man didn’t answer her question. “It told me that the person I’d meet would be rather young despite the fame and very kindhearted. That’s why I acted the way I did. I needed to make sure that I have the right person. Seeing you, I have no doubt. You are a Pokédex Holder. At 21, you are very young considering how famous you are. And even though I was being so rude and cruel, you still helped me across the river three times.”

“Um… how do you know what your Gothitelle sees?” Blue asked. She was rather skeptical about what this old man was saying.

“I’ve been with it long enough to know roughly what it’s thinking by looking at its actions,” the old man replied. “But for things too complex for me to guess, it shows me what it’s thinking through my dreams. Now, listen very carefully. What I’m about to tell you may save your life. Since you’re a Pokédex Holder, you must live on.” The old man cleared his throat and observed Blue’s expression. The girl was listening intently, so he continued. “I don’t know exactly when or where, as there are several uncertainties, but… beware of water. There will be a flood in a route somewhere within a couple of months and when that happens, you will die there.”

Blue thought for a few seconds. “I mean no disrespect, but I hope you understand me being skeptical.”

“I understand. Whether you heed my warning or not is up to you. I’ve done all I can by warning you ahead of time.” The old man rose to his feet and Blue hastily rushed to help him. The old man looked at her and sighed again. “I really do hope that you don’t die. This world needs all the help it can get from kindhearted trainers like you. But something tells me that your fate is… inevitable. Just be very careful.”

The old man returned his Gothitelle and slowly walked towards Ecruteak City. Blue watched him until he disappeared from her sight before she sent out her Wigglytuff. Thanks to the advanced warning, Blue felt… uncomfortable around Route 36. The fact that she was in a route that was flooded made her very nervous… She needed to get the hell out of there.

“Let’s get out of here, quick,” Blue said to Wigglytuff as she hopped on. “And for a few months, let’s stay away from routes close to water entirely.”

…

A couple of hours later, near Two Island, 2:30 pm…

…

“Gold, what do you think ShadowNet’s doing in Seven Island?” Crystal asked as she stared directly ahead.

The ship Lt. Surge has lent was indeed very fast, and because it was plowing through rough waves, it was shaking rather violently. And to avoid getting seasick, the two Johto Dex Holders decided to simply look straight ahead to where the ship was going.

“I don’t know. But they’re probably doing something,” Gold replied. “What do you think, Super Serious Gal?”

“Well… I think either ShadowNet is planning on doing something with the Unown, or they’re just looking for a new base site. I mean, Seven Island is basically the corner of the Sevii Islands. If they make a base there, it’s not going to be attacked from all over the place like they would in the middle of Johto or Hoenn.”

“Good point. But isn’t Seven Island kind of small?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never been there. Quite honestly, I don’t know why Blue sent us here. I think Red and Green would do a lot better.”

“Hey Crys,” Gold said abruptly. “What’s that?”

Crystal looked where Gold was pointing and she could see a small ship floating on the water directly ahead. It looked abandoned… The captain of their ship saw the abandoned vessel and soon stopped beside it. Several sailors on the ship rappelled down to the abandoned vessel and began to search it for survivors or hints of what may have happened. Crystal was about to move closer to the vessel to see it a little better when something caught her eye. Something close to the surface had just move from the vessel to the ship…

“Gold, I think I saw something move below our ship,” Crystal said.

Gold looked at the abandoned vessel before he headed towards the interior of the ship. “Stay here, Crys. I’ll go and take a look from the lower decks.”

Crystal nodded and resumed her focus onto the abandoned vessel. The sailors were still searching, but there didn’t seem to be anything unusual… Suddenly, there was an explosion from the inside of the ship that knocked Crystal off her feet. She quickly rose to her feet and ran to the interior of the ship, worried about Gold. The goggled boy had gone inside when the explosion occurred… it was entirely possible that he was caught in the explosion.

Crystal glanced around and noticed that the ship was starting to sink. It was shaking rather violently too… Crystal knew she had to find Gold quickly and get off the ship before it explodes again or sinks completely.

As she ran down the hall to get to the stairs, something struck her hard from behind. Crystal hit the floor hard, but managed to roll onto her back and sent out her Hitmonchan. But she couldn’t see anything… Crystal groaned and rose to her feet. Her shoulder was aching from the unknown attack. Another attack hit her from the side with enough force to slam her against the wall.

“Agh! Chanpeon, the attacks are coming from behind the walls!” Crystal gasped out as she forced herself up to her feet. “Ugh… it must be Ghost types… they’re the only ones who can land physical strikes through walls…” She kept her guard up and scanned the area. The Ghost type wasn’t actually showing itself, but it must be seeing her somehow… Crystal glanced down and noticed something. “What the…” She looked around and spotted the nearest light source. She then looked back down. Something was wrong with her shadow… it was way too big, given the position of the light source. “Chanpeon! Fire Punch at my shadow!”

The Hitmonchan did as told and with a floor cracking impact, knocked out the Ghost Pokémon (a Sableye) that was acting as the eyes of the attack. Crystal was about to give the next order when a large hand clamped around her mouth from behind. The girl looked at it and noticed that it belonged to a Dusclops. She tried to remove the hand, but couldn’t. The Hitmonchan saw her predicament but hesitated as its trainer was in danger. Crystal tried to order it to attack the Dusclops anyways, but failed as the Dusclops’s hand was pressed firmly against her mouth. She felt a sharp pain in her lower back as she took a Shadow Punch.

Seeing Crystal hurt, the Hitmonchan really couldn’t do anything. It kept its guard up but couldn’t defend itself from incoming Shadow Punches from other Dusclops in the area. Before long, Crystal went limp from repeated Shadow Punches. The Hitmonchan looked in despair. Its trainer was hurt, it was unable to defend itself from the surrounding Dusclops, and no one was nearby to help. Or so it thought, anyways.

Suddenly, Gold appeared out of nowhere and stabbed the wall directly above Crystal’s head with his billiard cue. Normally, it wouldn’t have affected the Dusclops, but the goggled boy had seen Crystal’s Hitmonchan being attacked by Ghost types and as such, prepared adequately. He simply heated up his billiard cue with his Typhlosion and then came to Crystal’s rescue. The billiard cue itself may go through the Dusclops without harming it, but the lingering heat would still burn it.

As expected, the Dusclops dropped Crystal and Gold quickly snatched her away. He pulled his non-conducting superheated billiard cue out of the wall and in that instant, the Hitmonchan smashed through the wall with Fire Punch. Gold looked at Crystal’s face and could see that the girl was barely conscious.

“Hey, Super Serious Gal! Snap out of it!” he yelled, but it didn’t do anything. “Don’t worry. I’ll get you out. Just hang in there, okay?” Gold ordered Crystal’s Hitmonchan to get back into its Pokéball before giving his Typhlosion the next instruction. “Explotaro, blast a hole through the wall!”

Gold embraced Crystal and covered her while the Typhlosion blasted a massive hole through the wall of the sinking ship with Flamethrower. Gold quickly returned the Volcano Pokémon back to its Pokéball and lifted Crystal onto his arms. He then ran through the giant hole so that he may escape the ship before it completely sinks or explodes. But just as he jumped off the ship and into the cold water, the ship exploded, and the shockwave instantly knocked him unconscious.

* * *

**Current Dex Holder KIA/MIA list: Gold, Crystal.**

* * *

What Could Have Been:

(1 of 2):

“Hi, there,” said the girl nicely as she crouched down slightly so that she could stay at eye level with him. Emerald instantly recognized the girl’s tone and posture. He saw Crystal use the same tone and posture when she was dealing with little kids at Earl’s Academy… Completely oblivious to the fact that she had just pissed off the Hoenn Dex Holder, the girl continued. “Is this Professor Oak’s laboratory?”

“Yes,” Emerald growled out through clenched teeth. He reached to his headset and contacted Crystal. “Number 7, Number 7, this is Number 10. Please respond, over.”

“Um… Emerald? Why are you talking like that?” Crystal asked.

“I have two people here who are treating me like a little kid. Requesting permission to beat the hell out of them, over.”

“Um… okay, I’ll play along. Request _denied_ , over.”

“They’re getting on my nerves. Please advise, over.”

“Be advised from… … ah, forget it. Emerald, just go and get Blue or Yellow.”

“Understood…” Emerald shut off his headset and looked into the lab. “Yellow! Can you come over here for a minute?”

…

(2 of 2):

Conditions:  
Crystal does not leave for the mission on Seven Island yet.  
Crystal and Sapphire are in the same room in Pallet Town when Black and White arrive.

…

Pallet Town, August 15, 11 am…

…

“Why do I suddenly feel so old?” Sapphire muttered. “I felt so young a week ago…”

Crystal sighed and patted her junior on the back. “I know how you feel. I felt the same before and after hearing about you and Ruby. I was one of the… _junior_ Dex Holders before I heard about you. And during the whole Battle Frontier incident, I realized that I was no longer one of the juniors, but I wasn’t on the _senior_ side either. But then Platinum came along and changed all that… It’s the same for you. You were one of the juniors, and now, you’re in the transition phase from junior to senior. Enjoy it while it lasts.”

“You sound like a tired old lady, Crystal,” Sapphire commented.

Crystal sighed again. “There’ll be a time when you sound the same… And could you stop making me feel old?”

“Got bad news for you, Crystal,” Sapphire said with a grin. “You _are_ old.”

“I’m only two years older than you!”

“I know, but… you’re on the _senior_ side and I’m not! And you know something else? I probably won’t be on the senior side for a long time.”


	20. Nightfall

Chapter 19: Nightfall

August 15th, 8 pm, unknown location…

Crystal woke up from the constant waves crashing onto the shore beside her. She didn’t know exactly what happened. She recalled being on a ship, heading towards Seven Island for a mission. Various Ghost type Pokémon attacked and… Crystal instantly snapped out of her trance.

‘ _Gold!_ ’

Quickly, she pushed herself off the ground, but collapsed back down. She couldn’t breathe and ended up vomiting the water she swallowed. Shaking away the nausea, she desperately scanned the area. It was starting to get dark, but she could see Gold lying on the shore a few meters away. Crystal crawled over to him as fast as she could manage.

“Gold!” she yelled out, but received no response. She tried again. “Gold?” Upon arriving at his side, she could tell that he was unconscious. “Come on, Gold, wake up!” she yelled, shaking him furiously by the shoulders. He wasn’t breathing, however. A thought occurred and Crystal became seriously worried. “Tell me you’re not dead, Gold! You can’t die!”

After a few more unsuccessful shakes, she couldn’t help but let a few tears fall. She now had no choice but to use CPR. Crystal forced Gold’s windpipe open and after pinching his nose, placed her lips on his and blew air into his lungs. She then placed both of her hands on his chest and pushed down repeatedly.

“Come on, Gold! If you die, I swear I’ll kill you!”

After ten pushes, she leaned over for another mouth-to-mouth resuscitation when Gold’s eyes snapped open. The very first thing he saw was Crystal’s face right in front of his, with her lips touching his.

“Holy crap!” he yelled in surprise as he pushed her backwards. “Damn, Super Serious Gal,” he started, taking deep breaths to calm his surprise. “I know I’m irresistible, but restrain yourself! You may want me, I know. Lots of girls do. But this glorious dude is for display only! Hands off the merchandise!”

Crystal’s face turned bright red from embarrassment and anger. “You jerk! Do you have _any_ idea how much I was worried?!” she screamed. “If you died, I’d be all alone and our friends and seniors would-”

“Whoa, easy there, Crys,” Gold said while laughing. “I’m perfectly fine. And I’m glad that you are too.”

Crystal kept her deadly glare at him but her anger soon calmed. “What happened, Gold? Those Ghost types…”

“ShadowNet,” Gold replied. “They were using that abandoned boat as a lure. They got their Ghost type Pokémon to sneak onto the ship through the hull and destroyed the engine to create a hole big enough for their trainers to sneak onboard. I saw them destroy the engine and I was fighting them when I saw some go up through the ceiling. I assumed they were after you, so I came to help. Even though ShadowNet’s Pokémon were attacking through the walls, they were no match for this genius’s super amazing strategy!”

Crystal listened as Gold explained how he saved her. She filtered out all the bragging and noticed that his plan was, surprisingly enough, quite ingenious.

“Okay then, Mr. Genius,” Crystal started. She decided to indulge him for once, as she felt thankful that he saved her. “What’s the plan? We still have a mission to accomplish in Seven Island, and we have absolutely no idea where we are.”

“Ah, yes. The plan,” Gold said with a slight chuckle. He crossed his arms and appeared to be in deep thought. “There are absolutely no leads at this time,” he said after 10 seconds of silence.

Crystal groaned and slapped a hand over her face. “Okay then… Mr. Idiot, what’s the situation? What do we have and what are we missing?”

“Oh, come on Crys! I saved your life, and here you are, calling me an idiot!” Gold said with a (undoubtedly faked) hurt expression. He suddenly grinned. “But I’ll ignore that and pretend that you still called me a genius. To answer your question, we are missing our bags and thereby all of our Pokémon, food, and other stuff.”

“Great… no Pokémon, no Pokégear, no maps, no food, no water, n-”

“No loneliness though. We still have each other,” Gold added abruptly. “Damn, that sounded mushy…”

Crystal realized that she was missing her hat and her headset. She looked at Gold and noticed that he still had his hat, but no headset, somehow.

“Gold, where’s your headset? Don’t tell me that your hat remained on your thick head while your headset was washed away in the water.”

“Nah. I kept that thing in my bag. I don’t like the way it interferes with my hairstyle,” Gold replied.

“Gold! The whole point of the headset was for you to keep it on at all times!” Crystal exclaimed. “Why the hell did you even take one if you were going to keep it in your bag?”

“Whoa! Easy there, Crys! I’m sorry, all right?” Gold shook his head as he rose to his feet. “I sure as hell didn’t expect to be yelled at by the person I saved,” he grumbled out.

Crystal quickly jumped to her feet. She just realized how harsh she was being to the boy who saved her life. “I’m sorry, Gold. I’m just… stressed,” she tried to explain.

“Forget it, Super Serious Gal,” Gold said as he turned away from her. “It’s a little too late for that.”

Crystal placed her hands on his shoulder. Sense of guilt was bearing down on her and she felt horrible. “I’m being honest. I’m really sorry. You saved my life, and it was just awful for me to treat you like that. Please forgive me.”

Gold grinned. ‘ _Ah guilty conscience… it never fails._ ’ “In that case… can you call me Mr. Hero?”

The girl recognized that tone and in an instant, realized that Gold was faking being hurt. “You’re a jerk, you know that?”

The goggled boy turned around and looked at her with a grin. “Sorry, Crys. I just couldn’t help it.”

Crystal sighed, but was glad that Gold was smiling. “Well… thanks for saving me anyways. And again, I’m sorry for…” She trailed off and sneezed abruptly. “Oh… it’s getting really cold…”

Gold looked at her for a second before he took his jacket off. Before Crystal could ask what he was doing, he put it on her and walked away. “Come on, Crys. Let’s see if we can find out where we are.”

Crystal looked surprised, but soon smiled and followed. She was still worried about everything, but at least she wasn’t separated from Gold. The two Johto Dex Holders ventured around the coastline. That way, they wouldn’t get lost and had a guaranteed chance of finding some hint of civilization (namely, a harbor), unless they were stranded on an uninhabited island.

Twenty minutes later, the two Johto Dex Holders came across what they were looking for.

“Well… here’s the harbor,” Crystal muttered. “Or what’s left of it, anyways… What do you think happened?”

“I don’t know. Some kind of explosion, for sure. And a big one too. There’s barely anything left of this place.”

Crystal examined the remnants of the harbor. The harbor only had the loading dock (barely intact) and the first few layers of brick of the first floor. But given how the remnants were completely charred and pieces of brick and mortar were scattered far, far away from the building site…

“It seems like this place was hit by a really strong Fire type attack that resulted in an explosion. But how would a Fire type attack result in an explosion this big?”

Crystal was about to turn towards Gold when he suddenly stopped her. He forced her to look away.

“Whoa, Crys. Don’t look here.”

“Huh? Why?”

“Unless, of course, you want to see the employee of this harbor. Well, what’s left of him, anyways.” Gold looked around the body. “Hmm… I wonder what happened to his pants… and his legs… and his hips! I can see the spine, but nothing below…”

“I don’t want to know,” Crystal said as she placed her hands over her ears.

Gold left her alone and crouched in front of the skeletal remains. He could see something in the chest pocket of the skeleton’s jacket. He pulled it out and could see that it was a map… Gold spread it out and observed carefully. It appeared to be a map of the Sevii Islands, but had various doodles all over the place. Gold looked at the back and saw that the backside had a detailed map of an island, presumably the one where they were right now. The goggled boy folded the map and put it in his pocket. He would study it more later.

“Come on, Crys. Let’s get out of here.”

Crystal silently nodded and the two Johto Dex Holders began to walk away from the wreckage. After 30 minutes of walking, the two stopped and built a fire in order to stay warm. Even though it was still summer, they were drenched and it was getting dark, so they were getting really cold.

Gold simply sat in front of the fire, poking at the burning wood with his indestructible billiard cue. Crystal sat on the opposite side, hugging her knees and staring at the fire with a blank look. She suddenly sighed and Gold looked up at her.

“Super Serious Gal, what’s wrong?”

Crystal looked away from the fire and into his eyes. She looked very depressed and worried.

“Aren’t you worried at all? We have no Pokémon, no supplies, we have no idea where we are, we’re clearly on an uninhabited island, ShadowNet is doing something crucial that we were supposed to stop, but we can’t now. I mean this… is a huge failure. We failed, Gold, and there’s absolutely nothing we can do.” She looked back at the fire and let out a long sigh.

Gold simply stood up and walked around the fire. He sat beside Crystal and put an arm around her shoulders. “Relax, Crys. Things will be all right. We’ve been through worse situations and we’re still here. And besides, we didn’t use up all of our options yet.”

Crystal looked over at him with a confused expression. “What do you mean?”

Gold reached into his pocket and withdrew the map he obtained from the skeletal remains. He set it down on the ground so that Crystal could use the light from the fire to see.

“See, according to this map here,” Gold started. “We’re on an island that was set for development somewhere between Four and Five Islands.”

“I’ve never heard of an island between those two,” Crystal muttered. “So we really are on an uninhabited island.”

“Yeah, I guess. That harbor we found must’ve been an attempt to make this place inhabited, but clearly, that didn’t go so well. But look here,” Gold said as he flipped the map over.

Crystal looked at the detailed map of the uninhabited island. There were lots of markings here and there and she could see a circle on the map that indicated the location of the harbor. But in the center of an island, there was a large ‘danger’ sign next to a large mountainous cave.

“What’s this?” she asked as she pointed at the cave.

“Good question. That’s what we’re going to find out. This island is clearly devoid of people, other than us. If there’s any method of us escaping this place and stopping the ShadowNet plan from working, this cave is it.”

Crystal looked around and soon spotted the mountainous cave in the distance. It was really tall, and although she never really paid any attention to it earlier, now that she looked at it, it looked… dangerous and unnatural.

“Okay. But we should get going right now. We need to get off this island as quickly as possible,” Crystal said as she rose to her feet.

Soon, the two Johto Dex Holders ventured towards the center of the mystic island. Although nightfall was upon them, they did not take any torches so that they wouldn’t attract any attention from hostile Pokémon. But for some reason, as the two Dex Holders crept through the thick forest and bushes, they did not hear anything. The entire island was eerily quiet. It appeared that absolutely no wild Pokémon were living on the island…

Two hours later, the two Dex Holders finally arrived at the mountainous cavern. Although the entire island was dark, there seemed to be some sort of light filtering from the _inside_ of the cave. Gold carefully approached the entrance and peeked in. The inside of the cave was somehow illuminated, despite non-existing sources of light.

“What the hell is this place?” Gold muttered as he looked further inside. The inside appeared to be… a long hallway, if anything else.

Crystal followed him and shivered slightly. “This cave is a little creepy,” she said. “It feels really weird and even a little scary.” Just then, the entire cave seemed to shake as a deep growl reverberated from deep inside. “Wh – What was that?”

Gold took her hand and gently squeezed. “Don’t worry too much, Crys. I’m here. Let’s keep going; we have no choice.”

Crystal slightly blushed in embarrassment but nodded. As Gold walked deeper into the cave, she followed quietly, observing the oddly illuminated innards of the mystic cave. “This cave is _definitely_ not a natural formation. Someone, or some _thing_ built it, so it must lead somewhere. I think you’re right in assuming there’s a way out of this place in here.”

Gold nodded. “I told you. This genius is _always_ right.”

Crystal rolled her eyes but didn’t reply. The two Johto Dex Holders continued walking deeper into the cave and eventually came across a dead end. But in the corner, there was a large gap in the ground and a _ladder_ was sticking out of the hole. Gold approached the ladder and tested his weight against it. Even though the ladder appeared to be centuries old, it was oddly sturdy. It felt like it was made of metal, despite appearing to be a rotting piece of wood. Gold soon climbed down and Crystal followed as well.

Once the two Johto Dex Holders were on the ground, they looked on and could see yet another long, long ‘hallway’, but this time, with branching pathways. Gold and Crystal carefully proceeded, still awed by how the path was illuminated despite being underground.

The two came across a small branching path to the left. While Gold looked ahead in the main path, Crystal peeked around the corner to the branch. The branch appeared to be a dead end, so she patted Gold on the back and the two continued forward. The two repeated the process with the second branching path, to the right.

After 10 minutes of walking, the main ‘hallway’ split into two. The path to the left led to a ladder reaching up to the level above, and the path to the right had a ladder reaching down to the level below.

“I’ll take the one on the left,” Gold said.

“All right then. I guess I’ll go right then.” Crystal looked at Gold. “Whoever finds an escape solution first should come back and get the other.”

“Sure.”

“And be careful, Gold,” Crystal said with a worried expression.

Gold grinned. “I always do.”

Crystal shook her head at his statement (a blatant lie) and watched as Gold climbed the ladder to the level above. She wished him luck and proceeded down the ladder to the right.

Gold finished climbing up the ladder and noticed that… he was in a tiny room with another ladder right beside. He climbed that one and noticed that he was in yet another tiny room with yet another ladder right beside. He cursed and climbed that one too. But no matter how many times he climbed, he was in the same room (or so it appeared) with a ladder. Gold looked through the hole on the ceiling and saw the same room above him.

“F*ck,” he muttered. He let out an explosive sigh and began to climb again. “Oh boy, I can’t wait to climb _down_ all these ladders again!”

Meanwhile, Crystal was experiencing the same thing as Gold, but going down. No matter how many ladders she climbed down, there was always another one leading to a level below. Crystal looked through the hole in the ground and saw the same room below her.

“Oh, come on!” she exclaimed in frustration. She sighed and climbed down again. “Great. I can’t wait to climb _up_ all these ladders again!”

…

August 16th, 12:30 am, unknown island, 50th floor…

…

Gold climbed _yet another_ ladder and he found himself on the top of the mountainous cave. He dragged his tired body onto the top level and lay down.

“Finally!” he exclaimed. “That was _torture_!”

The howling wind forced Gold to get up to his feet. Even though the wind was bone chilling, he could sense some intense heat coming from ahead. He carefully walked further onwards until he could see what was at the end. He simply froze and stared ahead. The source of the heat was… Ho-oh.

“Oh… sh*t.”

…

Meanwhile, 100 floors down…

…

Crystal finally finished climbing down all the ladders. She lay down on the cold, humid ground to rest her tired body. The level she was in was dank and quite dark. She could hear a waterfall in the distance, which surprisingly, didn’t echo as loudly as it should in a cave.

Crystal was about to massage her tired legs when she suddenly felt an immense pressure coming from ahead. She forced herself up to her feet and carefully proceeded onwards. She instantly froze when a pair of large eyes suddenly glowed in the darkness ahead. Just then, the entire level seemed to get some illumination from somewhere and Crystal could see that she was standing directly in front of… Lugia.

“Oh… crap.”

…

Meanwhile…

…

D: We’ve finished the final preparations.

L: Good. Activate Project 05-032. It’s time.

D: With pleasure. But sir, what does the project even do?

L: What’s the one thing the Dex Holders can’t fight, no matter how much they’re being attacked?

D: … Themselves?

L: No, you idiot. People. _General_ people. Those bystanders who live in cities and towns and everywhere in between. So if they work for us, the Dex Holders will be unable to stop us.

D: … And… how are we going to make the people join us?

L: _That’s_ what the Project 05-032 is for!

D: How does it work?

L: … Just watch the damn camera feeds.

…

30 minutes later, Navel Rock, 1 am…

…

The two Johto Legendaries instantly turned to face the direction of Seven Island. They then turned to look in the direction of Johto, followed by Sinnoh. They could sense something… They resumed their focus to the Johto Dex Holders in front of them.

Gold and Crystal tried their best to convince Ho-oh and Lugia to help them. They knew that they couldn’t battle the two Legendaries. They had absolutely no Pokémon, and even if they did, they weren’t going to fight (that’d be suicidal).

Gold took a nervous gulp and looked at Ho-oh expectantly. He didn’t want to anger it in any way, as he didn’t want to take a Sacred Fire at point blank range. Having absolutely no method of defending himself, he could only hope for the best. But maybe it was because the Ho-oh felt a disturbance or because Gold was so damn good at convincing others, the Rainbow Pokémon eventually lowered itself so that Gold could climb on. The goggled boy appeared hesitant, but after another screech from Ho-oh, he obliged and carefully hopped on.

The Ho-oh lifted off and waited near the edge of the island. Before long, something shot out of the water below and Lugia appeared in front of the Rainbow Pokémon. Gold looked at the Diving Pokémon and could see Crystal riding it. She was drenched, but otherwise perfectly intact.

“Hey, Crys! You doing okay?” Gold yelled.

“Yes, I’m fine!” Crystal yelled back. “It was scary, but I’m okay!”

The two Johto Legendaries quickly flew towards Seven Island and due to their power and speed, they managed to get there within a matter of minutes. The two Johto Dex Holders scanned the island below. It was late at night, so they looked for buildings that had unusually large amount of people coming in and out. Soon, they found the structure they were looking for. It was a big building with a giant satellite dish of some sort on the roof. Crystal narrowed her eyes and tried to see clearly. Although she couldn’t see perfectly, she was sure that one of the people exiting the structure was wearing a ShadowNet uniform.

The two Johto Legendaries swooped down for a better view. But as they did so, a large group of civilians started to gather on the ground below them. They all had their arms outstretched towards them and were clawing at the air. Crystal looked at them and noticed that they all had a white mask of sorts on their faces.

“So this is what ShadowNet was up to?” she muttered.

“Damn. So it turns out that ShadowNet’s trying to mind control these people like Pryce did years ago!” Gold yelled out. “But how did they get so many people so quickly?”

Crystal pointed to the right. “Look, Gold. There’s more.” She looked at the building and examined the large satellite dish. “Gold, I think ShadowNet is transmitting some kind of radio waves that are affecting people like this somehow. I don’t know why nothing’s happening to us, but we can’t take any chances. We have to destroy that building!”

The suspected ShadowNet grunt in front of the building sent out his standard issue Pokémon and prepared to fight. Lugia and Ho-oh dispatched the ShadowNet grunt’s entire team quickly. But then, the door to the suspected ShadowNet building opened and a horde of grunts began to file out. They all sent out their standard issue Pokémon and the air in front of the building seemed to fill up with Pokémon.

Crystal pointed at the group and gave Lugia a gentle pat. “Okay, let’s see the Aeroblast that you tried to kill us with years ago!”

The Diving Pokémon took a deep, deep breath and unleashed the power of its signature attack. All of the ShadowNet grunts and their standard issue Pokémon were blown backwards from the power of Aeroblast. The force was enough to slam all of them into the wall of the structure and even _through_ it.

Gold pointed at the damaged structure. “All right! Now let’s see the Sacred Fire that you tried to kill me with the same number of years ago!”

The Rainbow Pokémon charged up a large bluish fireball and blasted the structure with the mystical Fire type attack. The mystical Fire type attack combined with the continuous stream of Lugia’s Aeroblast and caused a massive explosion that completely obliterated the ShadowNet structure. Only then did Gold and Crystal realize that the destroyed harbor on the mystic island was the result of the two signature attacks combining.

Once the two Johto Dex Holders were sure that the ShadowNet building was completely destroyed, they looked down at the horde of mind controlled people. But the group seems to have changed for the worst…

Crystal gasped and put a hand over her mouth. “Oh no… what have we done?”


	21. Revelation

Chapter 20: Revelation

August 16th, 1:40 am, Seven Island…

Crystal watched in horror as the mind controlled people below ‘her’ Lugia started to change. Before the ShadowNet building was destroyed, the people only had white masks on their faces and acted like mindless zombies (Crystal had seen plenty in horror movies). But now… they were far different than anything she had ever seen. The white mask seemed to have expanded and stretched onto the arms. The white material changed into three long tentacles on the left arm and all the controlled people started to thrash around.

One of the controlled people jumped in the air and surprisingly, landed on Lugia’s head… 10 meters above the ground. Crystal shrieked in surprise as the controlled civilian growled at her in a voice that sounded horribly unnatural and creepy. The Diving Pokémon quickly jerked backwards, which forced Crystal to fall onto its back and the controlled civilian off its head. Crystal quickly looked down and saw the controlled civilian hit the ground with a splat. She winced and tried to look away, but in that instant, the civilian got back up and looked up at her.

Lugia and Ho-oh both flew a little higher above the ground so that while they would be (hopefully) out of jumping range of the controlled civilians, the two Johto Dex Holders would still be able to see what was going on.

“Hey Crys, you okay?” Gold asked.

“Y – Yeah… I think I’m good,” Crystal replied. Her voice was still shaking, though. She looked behind her and could see a swarm of flying things heading closer very fast. “What’s that?”

Gold looked back and saw the swarm. “I don’t know. They kind of look like the Unown.”

“But why are they white?” Crystal asked. She observed the swarm and suddenly looked very alerted. “They’re coming right for us!”

Lugia and Ho-oh both used Safeguard just before the odd Unown swarm could reach them. The wondrous protective field repelled the Unown and the two Johto Legendary Pokémon proceeded to shake them off the barrier itself. Perhaps realizing that they had no chance of breaking through the Safeguard set up by the two powerful Legendaries, the Unown scattered away, all heading to ground level, allowing the two Legendaries to fly away unhindered.

“What the hell is this about?” Gold asked. “The Unown… they were completely white…”

“Hey! Help us!” came a voice from below.

Gold and Crystal looked down and could see a handful of uncontrolled people waving at them from the roof of an apartment. Gold and Crystal got the two Johto Legendaries to land on the roof so that they may save the people. The moment Lugia landed, Crystal got off so that she may help the civilians get onto the Diving Pokémon. But the moment she touched the roof, several of the odd Unown appeared from edge of the rooftop and swarmed the civilians.

Crystal was about to help a little boy when an Unown flew closer and attached itself onto the boy’s face. The little boy fell onto the floor and started to thrash around, screaming in pain. Crystal quickly approached to help but before she could, the boy got back to his feet. He was now one of those creepy controlled civilians…

The controlled boy let out a long growl as he lunged forward. Crystal quickly jumped backwards. The three long formed tentacles missed the girl but hit the rooftop with enough power and force to shatter several tiles and create a crack on the roof. The girl could see the boy’s expression quite clearly. His eyes were wide open and he seemed very scared. He seemed to try to stop himself but clearly couldn’t. There was a fist sized solid lump of the white material on his neck and had a small black dot. It appeared that the eye of the Unown was situated there.

Crystal quickly grabbed onto Lugia just as the Diving Pokémon lifted off. But she didn’t have a good grip… Gold got Ho-oh to fly underneath Lugia and helped Crystal get onto Ho-oh instead.

“Crys, you okay?” he asked in a worried tone once she was seated firmly behind him.

“N – No…” the girl said. She looked into Gold’s eyes and he could see how troubled she was. “We have to get to Pallet Town as soon as possible… We have to let the others know what happened…”

…

Two hours later, 4 am, Red’s house…

…

Sapphire woke up from her sleep when she heard loud static coming from her headset. She quickly sat up and berated herself for falling asleep. She was supposed to be waiting for Ruby to call her so that she could pick him up from Johto. He was still on his mission to Violet City and his last call indicated that there was absolutely no ShadowNet presence in the city. But to be absolutely sure, he chose to stay there and look around. He said that he would call her if he wanted to return. But it seemed that Red’s comfortable sofa and the horribly undecorated (blank white walls) living room had a hypnotizing effect.

Sapphire pressed a button on her headset. “… Yeah? Ruby, is that you?”

“S – Sapphire!” Ruby’s voice came from the headset.

“Ruby! What’s going on over there?” Sapphire asked. She instantly became extremely worried, as she recognized the agony in Ruby’s voice. “Are you hurt?”

“Sapphire! L – Listen… Don’t… don’t come to Johto!” Ruby yelled out. His voice was shaking and it sounded like he was growling.

“What’s going on? Are you okay?” Sapphire asked in panic. “Please tell me you’re okay… If ShadowNet’s attacking you, I’ll get there as fast as I can!”

“No! D – Don’t be a fool…” Ruby growled out. “It… it’s not ShadowNet… Don’t… no… Stay there! … Sapphire… please… stay _away_! Don’t… …”

Ruby’s voice trailed off into a groan caused by excruciating pain. Sapphire shot up to her feet and hastily headed for the door. But in her panic, she tripped over a small table that was right in front of the comforting sofa. The small table flipped over and hit the floor with a loud thud, instantly waking the newest member of Red’s team.

“Huh? … What’s going on?” Black asked as he sat up. Due to a lack of furniture, the Unova Dex Holder was forced to sleep on the rock hard floor (a not-so-nice change from sleeping in tents).

“No time to explain!” Sapphire quickly replied as she reset the knocked over table. She quickly dashed towards the front door of her senior’s house, but in her rush, stumbled on the shoes that were scattered all over the entrance (a mess that Platinum would’ve cleaned, if she was around).

By the time Sapphire found her shoes and put them on, Red came downstairs from his bedroom, wondering what the ruckus was about.

Meanwhile, at Professor Oak’s lab, Gold and Crystal were busy describing their mission results to everyone present. Crystal followed her re-con-dis system to the letter and clearly described all the events in chronological order in her perspective. Gold simply filled in the missing pieces in Crystal’s story.

“Wait… the Unown?” Blue asked. “If ShadowNet had a radio transmitter that affected Unown, it’s possible that the waves affected the Unown in other regions…” A look of dread suddenly appeared on her face. “Violet City… ShadowNet’s focus was on Violet City because it’s the very first Johto City to be affected by the Unown.”

“From the Ruins of Alph?” Gold asked.

Blue nodded. A thought occurred and she started to pace around. “Oh no… Ruby went there to search for ShadowNet presence…”

“What about Sinnoh? Do you think the radio waves affected the Unown there too?” Diamond asked.

“Where are the Unown in Sinnoh?” Blue asked.

“Solaceon Ruins in the eastern end of Solaceon Town.”

Blue gasped in shock. “Oh no… Silver was sent there! He would’ve been searching there by now!” Blue reached for her headset and tried to contact Silver. “Silver, this is Blue. If you’re there, answer right now!”

Everyone observed Blue’s expression carefully to determine what was happening. Crystal helped Diamond use his headset to listen in on the frequency. Blue resumed pacing around and each step seemed to increase the desperation and panic. Suddenly, she stopped moving.

Diamond took off his headset. “Crystal, listen to this,” he whispered.

Crystal took the headset and put it on. The moment she did, she could hear some sort of a growl. She frowned. That growl sounded familiar…

“That’s the same sound the little controlled boy made back in Seven Island,” she muttered.

“So this thing is spreading in Sinnoh too?” Diamond exclaimed.

“Um… I heard that ShadowNet was unable to get a foothold in Sinnoh,” White started. She was rather nervous, as this was the very first time she spoke her opinion regarding a world threatening event in front of a group of Dex Holders. “That means our allies there aren’t occupied. Perhaps we should contact them and… see if they can quarantine the outbreak.”

Blue glared at her. “Quarantine Solaceon Town while Silver’s in there somewhere? You call that a suggestion?”

“Blue, White’s right,” Crystal said quietly. “We can’t let this thing spread around Sinnoh completely. Though Gold and I destroyed the radio transmitter and so no more Unown can be transformed into this… virus, we don’t know how many Unown have been transformed so far. There may be a lot more hiding inside the ruins that haven’t spread yet.”

“What about Silver?” Blue demanded.

“You know him better than anyone else,” Crystal said. “He’ll be fine. I know it.”

Blue sighed and put a hand on her forehead. She was starting to get a headache… “I’ve been looking after him for 16 years now. I just… can’t believe that there’s nothing I can do for him right now.”

“And senior Blue, Silver’s not the only thing you should be worried about,” Gold added abruptly.

“Huh? What do you mean?” Blue asked. Crystal glared at Gold for being so blunt.

The goggled boy didn’t seem to get the hint. “We saw One Island on the way here. It was being destroyed.”

“… What?” Blue asked. Her face was turning pale.

“Half of the houses were on fire. There were hundreds of people running and screaming, and the Unown virus was starting to spread there.”

Blue started to feel dizzy. She staggered backwards and sat on the couch. “So… m – my parents…”

Crystal smacked Gold on the back of the head while the Kanto Dex Holder started to hyperventilate. White sat beside Blue and tried to comfort her senior. Blue shakily reached up to her headset and contacted Yellow.

“Y – Yellow… Get… get Green over here,” she blurted out between breaths.

“Blue? What’s wrong?” came Yellow’s rather tired voice.

Blue tried to explain the situation but couldn’t manage through her panic. She ended up jumbling words together and created one long incoherent message.

In Green’s house, Yellow shut off her headset and hastily ran upstairs to Green’s bedroom, carefully jumping over the waking bodies of Emerald and Pearl. Even though Blue’s message was… incomprehensible, Yellow understood just enough to know that something absolutely terrible has happened. The Kanto Dex Holder opened the door to Green’s bedroom after a few knocks. She found the Gym Leader sleeping like a machine (absolutely no hints of movement or sound) on the bed.

“… Green?”

The Viridian Gym Leader grunted in his sleep but didn’t wake up.

“GREEN!”

Green snapped awake and instantly sat up, his hands on top of the Pokéballs containing his Charizard and Scizor. He took a split second to survey his surroundings. Yellow was leaning over the bed, looking somewhat troubled.

“What’s wrong?” the Gym Leader asked.

“Something… terrible has happened,” Yellow replied. “I don’t know exactly, but Blue called me and said something about her parents and Silver. I couldn’t hear her clearly, but she sounded very distraught.”

Green got off his bed and went into the washroom attached to his room. Within 3 seconds, he had changed into his everyday clothes and headed downstairs. Yellow quickly followed, wondering how exactly the Gym Leader had changed so fast.

“Everybody, up!” Green yelled at his team members. Emerald and Pearl stood up and looked at their senior. “We are going to grandfather’s lab right now. Get ready!”

Within a minute, Green arrived at the lab and entered. The moment he did, Blue ran up to him and practically fell into his embrace.

“Green! I – I have to go to One Island,” she said in a shaky voice. “M – My parents… they’re in danger…”

Green looked into her watery eyes for a second before he nodded. “All right then. Let’s go.” He glanced behind him and saw Yellow running closer. “Yellow, you’re in charge again with Red.”

Yellow nodded and watched as Green and Blue flew off on the Gym Leader’s Charizard. She then entered the lab along with Emerald and Pearl and joined the other Dex Holders in discussion.

“What should we do?” Crystal asked.

“Um… the first thing would be to get Red and his team over here,” Yellow said after a short moment of thought. “When they come here, Gold, Crystal, you two should tell them everything. Emerald, please try to contact someone in Hoenn and tell them what happened. I don’t think the Unown are capable of flying over long distances, but there is a risk that they’ll hide in a ship or something and spread in Hoenn. I’ll go to Lugia and Ho-oh and try to see what they saw.”

White raised a hand. “Perhaps we should try to find additional talented trainers? Since ShadowNet is in Johto and we have the outbreak in Violet City and Seven Island, we don’t have as much resource abundance as Hoenn or Sinnoh.”

Crystal nodded. “That’s a good idea. But how do we find them?”

White reached into her bag and pulled out a small notebook. “As the president of the BW Agency, I meet lots of trainers, some of which are extremely talented. I know a few of them personally and some live around Kanto and Johto, and I have their contact information. I think they’ll be very helpful to us.”

“Okay then,” Yellow started. “Diamond, Pearl, go with White and try to find those trainers. But Diamond, I think you should go to Viridian City first and tell Platinum. Comfort her so that she doesn’t panic or worry about her family.” She then looked over at Gold and Crystal. “When Red’s team arrives and you two tell them everything, then we’ll be mounting a rescue attempt for Ruby. We’ll have to discuss that with Red.”

“Okay,” Crystal said with a nod. “But Yellow, I must say, I’m very impressed with how you’re ordering the other Dex Holders. When Blue and Green are here, you never really say anything. But you’re very good at being in charge.”

Yellow played with her hair sheepishly. “Well, um… I guess I learned from watching them.”

…

6:30 am, One Island…

…

Green and Blue examined the island below as they came close. Blue put a hand over her mouth as she saw the state of her home island. Green glanced at her and noticed the devastated expression. He got Charizard to quickly land on a safe location. From the distance, the two Kanto Dex Holders could see the transformed Unown flying around in swarms.

Upon landing, Green returned Charizard and sent out Scizor. With the Scizor protecting them, the two Kanto Dex Holders quickly and quietly headed towards Blue’s house. Blue looked around the destroyed neighborhood and couldn’t help but let a few tears fall. So many people were harmed…

Within half an hour, the two Dex Holders arrived at Blue’s house. The house was still on fire, so they quickly sent out Blastoise and Golduck to extinguish the flames. The moment the house was deemed safe to enter, Blue ran inside with a flashlight in hand.

“Mom! Daddy!” she yelled as she began looking around. Green quickly followed, leaving his Golduck to guard the entrance. He returned Scizor to its Pokéball, as it wouldn’t like being around a burning house, but was still needed in case of trouble.

Green started to open every door he saw as he began his thorough search throughout the burnt house. Blue headed downstairs to the basement. She recalled the conversation she had with her father, in which she told him to hide in the basement in case of a ShadowNet invasion. The stairs leading to the basement were completely charred black. Blue carefully tiptoed downstairs, using the flashlight to see whether a particular stair step was about to crumble. Once she cleared the staircase, she slowly proceeded.

“Mom? Daddy?” she called. “Are you in here?”

Blue quickly turned around a corner and a dark crouched figure instantly came into her limited view. She let out a short shriek of surprise and took a couple of steps backwards. But the standing figure wasn’t one of the controlled civilians Crystal had told her about. The figure was completely black, roughly humanoid in shape, and was curled up into a ball on the charred floor. There was something on the floor in front of the figure, partially crushed under a thick piece of the ceiling that broke off during the house fire. Blue took a few steps closer and examined the figure. A sudden realization caused her to drop her flashlight and let out a long scream.

Green was still on the first floor when he heard Blue’s scream. Thinking that the girl had run into one of the transformed Unown, Green quickly rushed downstairs with his Scizor’s Pokéball in hand. In the basement, he found Blue on her knees, crying in front of a dark, curled up figure. Only until he came closer did Green realize that the dark figure was a person that had been burnt into a crisp. More specifically, the figure was Blue’s mother…

“Mom… daddy…” Blue cried out.

Green looked past Blue and saw the burnt remains of the girl’s father, crushed under fallen debris. It seemed that Blue’s father was crushed under fallen debris during the house fire and the mother tried to save him. But they must have passed out from the fumes created by the fire and ultimately died.

Blue gingerly embraced her burnt parents and continued to weep. Green simply stood beside her, as he had no idea what to do about a desolate scene like this one. He had been in a similar situation once before several years ago, that involved Silver and Giovanni. But at that time, Giovanni wasn’t quite dead.

Green soon thought of what to do and crouched beside Blue. He put an arm around her shaking shoulders. “Blue, I know it’s hard, but we have to go now. It’s not safe here.”

“Why… why?” she sobbed out. “Why did m – my parents… have to die?”

“Blue, come on. There was nothing you could do.”

Blue closed her eyes and pressed her cheek against the rough burnt shoulder of her mother. Her cries have died out, but tears continued to stream. With one hand, she held her father’s hand and with the other, her mother’s. A thought suddenly occurred and her eyes snapped open.

“This… this was m – my fault…” she muttered. “I – I told my parents to hide in the basement… If… if I didn’t, then they would have escaped and survived…” Blue burst into tears again and embraced the visible part of her father. “Daddy! I’m sorry! I should have protected you better…”

Green rubbed Blue on the back and tried to comfort her. He could hear his Golduck using Hydro Pump outside, and decided that he needed to pull Blue away from her dead parents. He grabbed her shaking shoulders and gently pulled her off. The girl let herself be pulled up to her feet, but still looked at her parents. Green looked at the girl’s parents and at that instant, the charred remnants of the mother crumbled apart.

Blue looked absolutely horrified. She began to stammer out something incomprehensible and started to tremble violently. Though she didn’t make a sound, when her father’s _head_ began to crumble, she couldn’t take it anymore. She began to hyperventilate again and even as Green quickly led her out of the basement, fainted in his arms.

Green gently lifted Blue’s unconscious body onto his arms. Seeing her parents’ charred remains crumble apart right in front of her eyes was definitely too much for her. Green quickly carried her upstairs and out of the burnt house. Outside, his Golduck was busy blasting a group of controlled civilians who were mindlessly running and jumping closer while flailing their arms.

Green sent out his Charizard and quickly hopped on. He still held onto Blue with one arm while he used the other to return his Golduck. “We have to get to Viridian City. Go to the hospital there, as fast as you can.”

…

Meanwhile…

…

L: How could I have known that the project would fail? Undoubtedly this is the Dex Holders’ doing! A final, bitter cu-

D: Sir, our special taskforce has arrived in Canalave City and has gathered in Jubilife City without detection.

L: … How dare you interrupt my rant? And can you explain to me why our precious project failed so quickly and easily?

D: The project would have been a complete success as long as the stabilizer was intact. It was entirely an oversight that we placed the stabilizer right beside the transmitter. When the Dex Holders destroyed the transmitter, the stabilizer went with it and… our project is going rampant.

L: Great… just great… But it’s possible to use this to our advantage. Have all of our forces in Johto to quarantine Ruins of Alph and Violet City. Spread the word that it was the Dex Holders’ fault that this Unown virus is spreading. If we appear to try to stop this outbreak, then people will think that we are on their side while the Dex Holders are not.

D: What about our taskforce in Sinnoh?

L: Have them go to Sandgem Town. Since we failed to gain control of the region the first time, the Gym Leaders and the Elite Four there will focus on the outbreak in Solaceon Town. So our taskforce will have no problems in carrying out our plan. In Sandgem Town, find the biggest mansion there. The Dex Holder that was captured at one point lives there. Though she may be in Kanto, her father is still in the mansion. The mother… we have no idea. Anyways, the father would probably leave the mansion in order to discuss possible actions regarding the Unown outbreak with the region’s professor. When he does leave the mansion, grab him, eliminate his guards, and have our greatest imitator replace him. Once he does, there will be a new task for him. Afterwards, have everyone except the imitator go straight to Twinleaf Town and search for the mother of a different Dex Holder. Kidnap her and we’ll render two Dex Holders harmless. If everything goes as planned, two Dex Holders will become harmless while another one will die.

D: … How so?

L: The Dex Holder from Sandgem is very proud. That was why we failed to get any information out of her when she was captive. Our plan in Sandgem targets that pride and sense of honor, dignity, whatever. If the plan succeeds, then 9 times out of 10, the girl will end up killing herself.

D: And if the plan fails?

L: … Then she’ll be pissed at us and will alert the champion of Sinnoh that our forces are still in the region. The Elite Four will come and… we’ll never be able to set foot in Sinnoh ever again.

D: A risky plan…

L: Got any better ideas?

D: No sir.

L: Good.

* * *

**Current Dex Holder KIA/MIA list: Silver, Ruby.**


	22. Quarantine Zone

Chapter 21: Quarantine Zone

August 16th, 9:30 am, Viridian City…

Platinum woke up from her sleep due to a slight commotion directly outside her room. She opened her eyes and soon spotted Diamond dozing off on a chair beside her bed.

“Diamond?” she called.

Diamond snapped awake and gave her a tired smile. “Hi, Lady.”

Platinum carefully sat up. “Diamond, when did you return?”

“A few hours ago,” Diamond replied. “I was supposed to let you know that Gold and Crystal had returned from their mission and everything that happened so far. And I was supposed to tell you that I had a new mission. But it was in the middle of the night and you were fast asleep, so I didn’t wake you.”

Platinum glanced at the door, as she could still hear some argument directly outside her room. “Diamond, could you please go and find out what the commotion is about?”

“Sure.” The boy was about to get to his feet when the door opened and Green appeared in the doorway.

“Platinum,” he started. “Do you mind if Blue stays here for a while?”

“Of course not. But senior, I do not understand what you mean,” Platinum replied.

Green didn’t reply and instead, stepped aside and let a doctor push a small bed into the room. Platinum gasped in shock when she saw Blue lying motionless on the bed.

“What happened?” Diamond asked.

The two Sinnoh Dex Holders listened intently as Green explained what happened on One Island. Diamond occasionally interrupted so that he may explain to Platinum about the results of Gold and Crystal’s mission, which led to the destruction of One Island.

“If the Unown are being transformed, then…” Platinum gasped. “Solaceon Town! If the Unown spreads out, then my father could be in danger!”

“What about your mother?” Diamond asked.

“My mother is in Hoenn. I do not have to worry about her, as nothing happened to her during the Groudon and Kyogre incident in which seniors Ruby and Sapphire were involved with several years ago. My mother had been in Hoenn since before the event and returned long after its conclusion yet nothing happened. But my father…”

“Don’t worry, Lady,” Diamond assured. “Before I came here, I called Miss Cynthia. I told her about the Unown and that Solaceon Town needs to be quarantined. Your father is safe. Nothing bad will happen. I promise.”

Platinum looked at him and gave him a faint smile. “If you say so, then I trust you.”

Diamond suddenly appeared a little guilty. “Lady, I’m really sorry. I want to stay with you and make sure you’re safe, but… I do have a new mission. I have to go with Pearl and our… _junior_ and search for talented trainers who are willing to help us fight ShadowNet.”

“Oh…” Platinum muttered. Her smile had faded and Diamond felt terrible. She took his hand and gave a light squeeze. “Be careful.”

Once Diamond left, Platinum turned to look at Green, who was staring through the window in deep thought. The heiress looked at Blue’s unconscious body and wondered when her senior would wake up. She recalled hearing from Red and Green about a similar event years ago, in which Blue fainted when her parents were kidnapped right in front of her just before their tearful reunion which was 11 years in the making.

But this time, Blue’s parents were dead, and she saw her parents’ scorched bodies crumble apart. Platinum shuddered. If something like that happened to her…

“Senior Green?”

“What?”

“This… Unown virus… we will be able to stop it, will we not?”

“Yes… we will.” Green glanced at Blue one last time before he headed outside. “Platinum, take care of Blue. Let me know when she wakes up.”

“Yes, senior.”

…

Pallet Town…

…

Red gathered his team and cleared his throat. “All right, listen up. We’re going to Johto and mount a rescue effort. Gold and Sapphire, you’re going into Violet City. Try to avoid attention and find Ruby. Black, you’re going to meet up with some of the Gym Leaders and make sure no Unown or any of the controlled people get out of Violet City. I’ll be going to the Ruins of Alph and make sure nothing gets out.”

Sapphire sent out her Tropius and hopped on. She didn’t wait for her seniors and simply got the Fruit Pokémon to head to Violet City. She would find Ruby… no matter what.

Gold climbed on top of ‘his’ Ho-oh. Seeing how his entire Pokémon team was lost at sea (a fact that he did not like to think about), he had no choice.

The moment Red’s team left for Johto, Green arrived at Prof. Oak’s lab. He quickly entered the lab and gathered the remaining Dex Holders. Only four remained out of the total of 15.

Green sat on a chair and got Crystal to explain the current situation. According to her, Team Rocket had majority of its grunts patrolling the entire southern coastline of Kanto with a bulk of its forces in Cinnabar Island in order to stop the Unown virus from coming onto the Kanto mainland. Lt. Surge was guarding the Vermillion harbor to make sure no ship from the Sevii Islands docked without a thorough ( _very_ thorough) inspection. But in case the Unown virus found a way to sneak past the Rocket security, Sabrina had positioned herself in Fuchsia City so that she may detect the abnormal psychic energy the transformed Unown exerted.

The Johto Gym Leaders have reported that all of the ShadowNet forces have retreated to and around Violet City. The Gym Leaders and the Elite Four were positioned around them, guarding key intersections in case they spread out again.

“What about Hoenn and Sinnoh?” Green asked.

“The cooperating Gym Leaders and Elite Four members of Sinnoh are circling Solaceon Town while the champion scans the individual cities and towns,” Crystal answered. “Although Solaceon Town is reported to be overrun with the transformed Unown, so far, none of them have even tried to escape the town. As for Hoenn, the Gym Leaders and the Elite Four have managed to contact the Frontier Brains and together, captured all the ShadowNet forces there. They said that they’ll be sending a ship containing a group of volunteers who’ll come to our aid.”

“Where are the other Dex Holders?”

“Red, Gold, Sapphire, and Black left for Johto. They’re staging a rescue for Ruby. Platinum’s still at the hospital in Viridian. Dia, Pearl, and White left to find some other talented trainers who’ll be able to help us. Silver and Ruby are… missing, and we don’t know what happened to them. And Blue left with you to One Island and…”

“She’s at the hospital with Platinum,” Green said. “Her parents are dead. Burnt to death in their home. Blue saw their bodies crumble and fainted.”

Yellow put a hand over her mouth. “How awful…”

Green rose to his feet. “This is what we’re going to do. Just because things have turned from bad to worse, it doesn’t mean we should sit around and do nothing. Yellow, go and read Lugia’s mind. That thing is a Psychic type. It’ll be able to see a lot of things that haven’t been sighted yet and knowing what it sees could help us greatly. Emerald, you’re going to create some replacement headsets for Black, White, and Crystal. Crystal, you and I are going to work on a little research project along with my grandfather, Bill, sis, and Professor Elm.” He looked over at Crystal, who appeared quite worried. “And Crystal?”

“Yes?”

“On my way back from One Island, I spotted Gold’s Typhlosion and your Xatu protecting all of your belongings. I put the Pokémon in Viridian City’s Pokémon Center to recover and the bags next to the front door of the lab. So if we have time during our research project, see if Gold’s headset still works and pick up your Pokémon.”

“Really? You found them?” Crystal exclaimed happily. “Oh, I was so worried! That’s great! Too bad Gold left without knowing that his Pokémon are safe…”

“We’ll let him know once his mission’s complete.”

…

Route 37, 10 am…

…

Morty sensed something… a presence that he had not felt since the Gym Leader Exhibition match years ago…

A shadow of a giant Pokémon suddenly passed him and he looked up. Instantly, he could feel his lifelong ambition slowly coming to life. Ho-oh! It was finally here! He had finally found it! He chased it with all his might. He wasn’t going to let it escape his sights that easily!

“Hey Morty, isn’t that Ho-oh?” Falkner asked as he followed his fellow Gym Leader.

“Yes it is!” Morty yelled. He snatched a Pokéball from him. “I’m borrowing this for a second!”

“Hey, what the?!” Falkner yelled as Morty sent out _his_ Skarmory and hopped on. “I can arrest you for that! You just robbed a police officer!”

Morty ignored him and got the Skarmory to chase Ho-oh. “Ho-oh! Wait!” he yelled out.

The Rainbow Pokémon seemed to have heard and slowed down so that the Skarmory could catch up. As Morty approached his lifelong dream, he was shocked to see someone riding it.

“Hey, Ghost Buster!” Gold yelled from ‘his’ Ho-oh. “Like my new ride?”

“You have got to be kidding me!” Morty yelled. “You found Ho-oh again?”

“Sure. As a Dex Holder, these kinds of things are inevitable!” Gold yelled back. “A lowly Gym Leader like yourself can only dream of these things! Being a Dex Holder kicks ass!”

“… Can I join?” Morty asked.

Gold laughed. “Nah. You’re way too old! Anyways, I have an important task to do, so bye!” He tapped Ho-oh and pointed towards the Sprout Tower in Violet City. “Ho-oh, away!”

Morty got ‘his’ Skarmory to head back to where Falkner was with a sullen expression. “So this is what Eusine felt when Suicune chose Crystal, huh?” he grumbled. “Lucky Dex Holders…”

…

10:30 am, Violet City…

…

Sapphire peeked through a bush into the center of Violet City. So far, no one was in sight. Since the city was abandoned, the only people she expected to find were bad guys. No civilians would have remained. There were lots and lots of those controlled civilians mindlessly wandering around, but the transformed Unown were nowhere to be seen. Perhaps they were hiding in buildings? Gold and Crystal had seen them at night, but at the moment, it was broad daylight.

Sapphire did her best to scan every one of those controlled civilians from afar, hoping that she would be able to find Ruby soon. She couldn’t see clearly from the bushes. She needed to get somewhere higher for a better view.

Sapphire ran from the bush and climbed onto a tree. Remaining hidden behind the thick leaves, she scanned around. Soon, she could see a group of 7 people gathered near the lake near the Sprout Tower. Sapphire narrowed her eyes and scanned them. They appeared to be ShadowNet grunts…

As Sapphire began to wonder what ShadowNet was doing in a quarantined city, the thick branch she sitting on shook violently, as if something heavy landed on it. The Hoenn Dex Holder looked back and was surprised to see one of the controlled civilians growling at her. The controlled civilian lashed out at her and Sapphire had no choice but to jump off the tree and into the open.

The civilian jumped after her with another creepy growl. Sapphire tracked the oncoming body and delivered a jump kick before it landed. But even as she was landing, she saw dozens of more of them flooding towards her direction.

‘ _Oh no… more of them. Forget stealth! Assault!_ ’ Sapphire sent out her Aggron and Blaziken. “Don’t kill them. Just disable them!” she ordered as she struggled to keep the first controlled civilian down on the ground.

At the same time, Gold looked down from the top of the Sprout Tower. He could see Sapphire getting surrounded in the distance. She didn’t seem to be in danger though. The swarm of Unown infected people were unable to harm the girl at all, since the girl herself was fighting so ferociously and her Pokémon were protecting her from behind. But the 7 ShadowNet grunts from the lakeside seemed to have heard the commotion, as they were rushing towards Sapphire…

Gold reached for his Pokégear but then realized that he didn’t have it, as it was still in his bag. All of his Pokémon were in his bag too, along with his headset. Meaning, at the moment, he had no way of warning Sapphire, any other Dex Holder, or even help fight the enemy. He did have Ho-oh in a Pokéball, but… he wasn’t sure if it was going to obey him in combat. It was hard enough to convince it to enter a Pokéball in the first place. But Gold shook away his doubt. He might as well try using Ho-oh.

As the Johto Dex Holder began to find his way downstairs, he felt a shiver run down his spine. There was something there. Something… hidden. Since the Sprout Tower was too small for Ho-oh to fight inside, Gold took his billiard cue and prepared himself. He slowly and carefully walked towards the staircase, keeping his eyes and ears alert. Suddenly he heard something. Some kind of scratching noise…

Gold followed the sound and soon came across a small room in the corner of the current floor. The room appeared to be a storage room of sorts. Perhaps it stored all the necessary equipment to clean the place once every now and then. The scratching noise was faint, but it was definitely coming from the other side of the door. Gold held his billiard cue tight and opened the door. Instantly, he wished that he didn’t. There were hundreds of the transformed Unown hiding there, avoiding the sunlight. Even as Gold turned to run, the Unown swarmed him and one of them latched onto his face…

Back in the center of Violet City, Sapphire took cover behind her Aggron and peeked around. The ShadowNet grunts and their Pokémon were to her left while the swarm of infected people was to her right. In order to deal with both groups, Sapphire got her Blaziken and Aggron to fight ShadowNet while the remainder of her team dealt with the infected civilians. She still wasn’t in any danger, as the ShadowNet grunts… sucked. Their standard issue Pokémon basically had no battle experience whatsoever, and the grunts didn’t seem to know what they were doing.

“Team Leader, we’re going to lose if you don’t intervene!” one of the grunts suddenly yelled.

‘ _There’s a leader?_ ’ Sapphire thought to herself.

She noticed a shadow of a Pokémon suddenly fly past her. She turned to prepare for another enemy, but upon seeing the Pokémon, gasped in shock and started to tremble. She was looking at her worst nightmare… Salamence. Scenes from that dreaded event many years ago started to flash across her mind. Getting attacked by a Salamence, watching Ruby fight it, watching him get hit by a Dragon Claw in the process…

Sapphire tried to focus on the ensuing battle but couldn’t. When the Salamence roared, she gasped and stumbled backwards. The Dragon type Pokémon charged at her with Dragon Claw, and instead of swiftly jumping out of the way, she simply dropped to the ground, using her arms to protect her head. Suddenly, she heard a loud thud and felt the ground shake. She looked up and saw the Salamence look straight at her. She backed away at the intimidating glare…

_“Look, I’ve chased away the Salamence!”_

_“…Scary… so scary…”_

‘ _Scary…_ ’ Sapphire looked up at the Salamence. She remembered her vow after the first Salamence event. ‘ _I must get stronger… I must learn to protect myself and the others…_ ’ She clenched her hands into fists as determination ran through her veins. ‘ _Yes, I can beat this. I can win… I have to… for Ruby!_ ’ “Chaka, Blast Burn!” she yelled out as she rolled away from the Salamence.

“Hydro Cannon.”

Sapphire jumped in surprise as her Blast Burn was neutralized by the Hydro Cannon. There were only four people who knew Hydro Cannon (five if Platinum learned), and all of them were on her side… She looked at where the Hydro Cannon came from. She could see… Swampert…

“Zuzu?” she muttered in disbelief. She quickly looked around and soon froze. The ShadowNet team leader, standing behind the horribly weak grunts, wearing a ghastly white mask, was… “Ruby?”

Ruby pointed at her. Sapphire turned around just to see the Salamence swing its tail at her head with Iron Tail…

The moment Sapphire hit the ground, all her Pokémon stopped fighting. They all gathered towards their trainer in a protective stance. Ruby sent out his entire team and surrounded Sapphire’s Pokémon while the ShadowNet grunts dealt with the remaining infected people.

“Get back inside your Pokéballs,” Ruby coldly ordered Sapphire’s Pokémon. “Unless you want Sapphire to die in battle.”

Sapphire’s Pokémon glared at Ruby but appeared to be in panic. After several seconds of glaring, they all hesitantly entered their Pokéballs and Ruby returned all of his Pokémon.

“Team leader, what should we do?” one of the grunts asked.

“Take her,” Ruby simply commanded.

He soon walked away and the ShadowNet grunts followed, dragging Sapphire behind them. But while walking away, Ruby couldn’t help but cast a couple of worried looks at the girl’s unconscious body…

…

Several hours later, 8 pm, Pallet Town…

…

Crystal sighed again as she stared as the readings on her laptop with a faraway look. Even though she was supposed to focus on a particular research project, she couldn’t help but worry about Gold. He had left on a dangerous mission in Violet City, of all places, with nothing but a Ho-oh. Sure, the Rainbow Pokémon was ridiculously powerful, but in close quarters, it wouldn’t be much of a help. Plus, there was a risk that Ho-oh’s attack would burn Gold too.

“Crystal, what’s wrong?” Emerald asked from behind.

Crystal snapped out of her thoughts and looked at her junior. “Oh… nothing.”

“It doesn’t sound like nothing,” the Hoenn Dex Holder said. “You don’t sigh ten times within a minute for absolutely no reason.”

Crystal sighed again. “I’m just… really worried about Gold. He left without his Pokémon. He’s in danger of running into the Unown virus and ShadowNet forces at the same time and he can’t defend himself.”

“What about Ho-oh?”

“It’s too big. It won’t be much help in confined places. But the bigger problem is that Gold has no way of calling for help. We can’t communicate with him at all because his headset and Pokégear are not on him.”

“Why are you so worried about him, anyways?” Emerald asked. “He’s not completely alone over there, and you know he can take care of himself.”

Crystal looked slightly embarrassed. “On that ship on the way to Seven Island, he came to my help and took care of me because he thought I was in danger. I just feel that I should return the favor.”

“What are you two continuously talking about?” Green asked as he opened the door to the room with a cup of coffee in hand.

“Green, I need to go to Violet City to help Gold,” Crystal said as she rose to her feet. “I think he’s in trouble and I need to go help him.”

Green stared at his junior’s eyes for a second before he turned to leave. “No. Your priority is to finish the research project.”

“Please, Green,” Crystal said as she grabbed her senior’s wrist. “What would you do if you knew Blue was in serious trouble?”

Green stopped in his tracks. He thought for a few seconds before he lowered his head and sighed. “Very well then. Go.”

“Oh, thank you.”

“Crystal, if you’re going, then I’m coming with you!” Emerald said as he jumped to his feet.

“I’m sorry, Emerald,” Crystal said. “But you need to take my place and work on the research project.

“But-” the Hoenn Dex Holder tried to object, but Crystal didn’t allow him.

“Don’t worry about me, Emerald. I’ll be fine.”

“Fine…” Emerald grumbled. He sat back down on his chair. “Good luck.”

Green temporarily gave his Charizard to Crystal so that she may get to Viridian City Pokémon Center and get her Pokémon as quickly as possible. Crystal took one of the new completed headsets and after a bow to Green, left the lab.

…

Two hours later, 10 pm, Violet City…

…

Crystal carefully scanned the ground below while still holding onto her Xatu high in the air. After retrieving her Pokémon (and Gold’s) in Viridian City Pokémon Center and returning her senior’s Charizard, Crystal had tried to contact Red so that she could find out exactly where Gold was. But for some reason, Red didn’t answer his headset. Perhaps he was sleeping? It was starting get late…

Crystal then tried to contact Sapphire, but also couldn’t manage. She was getting worried, so she stopped by Route 31 where Black, Falkner, and Morty were stationed. According to them, the transformed Unown tried to escape Violet City through the route, but were stopped before they flooded through. They also had some bad news, mainly that they lost contact with both Red and Sapphire a while ago. Crystal asked them the whereabouts of Gold and Morty said that the goggled boy was last seen heading towards the Sprout Tower. And as such, Crystal headed towards the famed Violet City’s attraction. She reported her findings to Green with her headset so that the Gym Leader may think of a plan to save Red and Sapphire, and even Gold and herself if she failed in her task.

From the air, Crystal looked at the Sprout Tower. It still appeared perfectly normal. The transformed Unown still flooded around the streets below, so Crystal decided to find a way into the Sprout Tower without getting to close to ground level. As she learned on Seven Island, the transformed Unown preferred to stay close to the ground and had their flight capabilities rather hindered.

Soon, Crystal found a large opening on the roof of the Sprout Tower. She carefully landed on the roof and returned her Xatu. From the bright moonlight, Crystal could see into the large opening. It seemed that the opening led to the very top floor of the Sprout Tower. Given the appearance of the opening and the floor below, it was clear that the opening was a collapsed portion of the roof of the tower, probably caused by the initial ShadowNet attack on the city a while back.

Crystal looked into the center of Violet City. She could see all the destroyed houses in the distance along with the remnants of the Gym and Earl’s Academy. And in the streets, the Unown infected people aimlessly wandered around, some smashing into houses for absolutely no reason. Seeing the horrid state of her hometown brought tears to Crystal’s eyes. She sat on the roof of the Sprout Tower and simply stared ahead. She longed for the day when everything would return to normal and her hometown would be rebuilt. One day… One day, the professors would figure out a way to reverse the Unown infection. One day, ShadowNet would be defeated. Crystal could only hope that the day would come soon.

The Johto Dex Holder wiped away her tears and climbed down onto the top floor of the Sprout Tower. She carefully and quietly crept around, looking for Gold. Though the chances of the goggled boy still remaining in the Sprout Tower were slim, it was worth a search.

Before long, Crystal found herself looking down the hallway whose windows overlooked the entire city of Violet. But at the end of the hall…

“Gold?”

The goggled boy spun around and the moment he saw her, charged straight for her. When he came closer, Crystal could see what happened to him via the moonlight. The transformed Unown had gotten to him… The Unown had created an exoskeleton with its psychic powers which covered pretty much all of Gold’s body except half of his face, and formed three long tentacles on his left arm, seemingly sprouting from the forearm. The controlled Gold lashed out at her. Crystal had seen the strength of one of the infected people back in Seven Island and knew that Gold was definitely capable of killing her without any effort.

Crystal quickly ducked and rolled out of the way of the three tentacles. “Gold, what happened to you?”

In that instant, Gold grabbed his left arm so that the tentacles would not hit Crystal. Seeing the goggled boy fight, Crystal carefully approached him. Only the right side of his face was visible and she could see the pain and panic in his visible eye.

“Come on, Gold. Fight! I know you can win!”

But Gold seemed to have lost control and ended up aiming a punch at her. The attack was too fast and Crystal didn’t have any time to dodge. The punch hit her on the left shoulder and knocked her down to the floor. Crystal clutched her injured shoulder and forced herself to rise to her feet. She couldn’t move her left arm. The punch may have broken a bone… But she reached up to her headset and pressed a button. Now, everything she said would be transmitted to every Dex Holder whose headset was on… assuming they heard the static emitted and pressed the button to receive…

“Ungh… Gold… please… fight!” Crystal yelled out as she backed away. “You… you said it yourself that you’d never hurt me. Do you remember?”

Gold’s visible eye shut. It appeared that he was thinking that he would be unable to hit her if he couldn’t see her at all. Unfortunately, he was wrong. Gold swung his left arm at her. Crystal quickly tried to jump out of the way. But the tentacles were a little too long and they ended up striking her right leg hard. Crystal instantly felt three distinct snaps in her leg and screamed. She took a quick glance at her leg and noticed that the bones have shattered in three places… She clutched at her horribly misshapen leg with her good arm. Crystal found the pain absolutely unbearable and screamed despite her best efforts to remain silent. She wasn’t able to scream for long though, as the controlled Gold started to choke her with his right hand.

Crystal gasped for air and tried to release the grip her close friend had on her throat. Unfortunately, the controlled Gold was way too strong. Before long, Crystal lost strength and her hand slipped off of Gold’s. But for some reason, Gold lifted her off the ground and smashed her into the wall. He then let go of her throat, giving her precious seconds to breathe. Crystal quickly refilled her lungs with air. Her body was stuck in the wall and the excruciating pain made it impossible to move. She looked at Gold once more before closing her eyes. She understood why Gold smashed her into the wall, even though he could’ve just choked her to death or even snapped her neck. Gold was still fighting… he was trying to save her from himself. And Crystal understood what needed to be done.

“G – Gold…” she gasped out. “I… I was right… I’ve never really thought about it, but… You _will_ be the death of me…”

Gold seemed to freeze temporarily. Even though he was being controlled by the rampaging Unown, Crystal’s words still affected him greatly. He could see the tears falling from her eyes and he felt a tear of his own falling from his visible eye. He tried to say something but all that came out was a menacing growl.

He could feel it. The Unown was forcing his left hand to strike at Crystal’s head. He couldn’t let that happen. He fought with everything he had. He wasn’t going to let Crystal be killed. Luckily for him though, it appeared that the Unown that infected him was… weaker than the others. Gold still had some control over himself. At times, the Unown would try to gain full control and he had to fight over his own body. Right now, he was losing the fight. Before long, there would be a lapse in his efforts and Crystal would be killed. There was exactly one thing he could do.

‘ _Crys! I know you can’t hear me, but… I’m sorry. I love you, Crys. I always have… But I have no other choice. I hope you understand!_ ’

Just milliseconds before the tentacles on his left arm could hit and kill Crystal, he punched her on the chest to smash her through the damaged wall of the Sprout Tower. The moment Crystal’s body disappeared from his sight, the Unown stopped trying to control him. Gold took a few seconds to calm himself. Once he was satisfied that he had almost full control over his own body, he approached the smashed opening in the wall and looked down. His only hope at the moment was that Crystal hit the lake that covered a big portion of Violet City and survived. If she didn’t, then given her current health, it was almost certain that she did not survive.

But to his horror, when Gold looked down through the gap in the wall, he could see absolutely no ripples or waves from the calm lake. The reflection of the moon was perfectly calm and immobile. If Crystal hit the lake, then there would have been a big splash, given the height of the Sprout Tower, and the reflection of the moon would be distorted from the ripples and waves caused by the splash. But no… the lake was perfectly calm… there have been absolutely no disturbances…

There was exactly one thought that ran through Gold’s mind before he blacked out from shock.

‘ _I killed Crys…_ ’

* * *

**Current Dex Holder KIA/MIA list: Red, Silver, Crystal, Ruby, Sapphire.**


	23. SA-I 2 It Followed Me Home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Intermission Part 2 is here!

Intermission Part 2: It Followed Me Home

ShadowNet Johto HQ, Goldenrod City…

Crystal and Platinum reactivated the inter-dimensional portal. They still had no idea how to reverse it, and none of the low ShadowNet grunts even knew about the portal to start with. So the two Dex Holders decided that if all else failed, one volunteer Dex Holder would be tied with a rope and be sent through the portal and…

The portal suddenly widened and Green, Blue, Gold, Sapphire, and the tied up ShadowNet commander appeared.

“Ugh… I’ll never get used to that,” Blue muttered as she slowly rose to her feet.

“Well, at least we’re back!” Sapphire exclaimed. She looked over at Platinum. “You _are_ rookie, right?”

“Um… that is your nickname for me, senior Sapphire,” the heiress replied.

“Hey, Super Serious Gal, did you miss me?” Gold asked with a grin.

‘ _Well… maybe just a little…_ ’ “No,” Crystal replied resolutely.

“Aw, don’t be like that, Crys! I know you missed me!”

Crystal sighed. “Gold, before you go on about your wild theories, I suggest you get off the portal machine. You don’t want to be sucked into another dimension while I _accidentally_ destroy the machine, now do you?”

Green, Blue, Gold, and Sapphire stepped off the ShadowNet device and shoved the ShadowNet commander to the floor. Soon, Falkner arrived along with a handful of Johto Gym Leaders and took the commander away. The Dex Holders were beginning to file out of the ShadowNet armory when the inter-dimensional portal flared up. Green glanced back at it and saw a hand slowly forming out of the portal… and a Pikachu.

Green sighed. “There could be some complications…”

Blue glanced over at Green, then at the portal. “Oh…” She sighed as well as the four people she saw in the other dimension fell out of the portal. “Looks like they followed us home…”

The boy with the Pikachu looked up at the two Dex Holders. “… You forgot our battle…”

…

An hour later, Goldenrod City Pokémon Center…

…

Blue, Gold, and Sapphire finished explaining to the other Dex Holders about their trip to the other dimension and their encounters. Green simply stood leaning against the wall, lost in thought.

Diamond looked back and forth Platinum and her counterpart. It was just… odd. Similarly, Ruby looked back and forth between Sapphire and her counterpart, awed by the massive differences despite similar appearances.

“Anyways!” the boy with the Pikachu yelled, interrupting everyone. “I came here because I wanted to battle you guys!”

Green turned to look at Crystal and Platinum. “What’s the current situation with ShadowNet?”

“The Gym Leaders and a large group of volunteers are attacking the ShadowNet’s main HQ in-”

“Hey! Stop ignoring me and let’s battle!” Satoshi yelled again.

Gold approached him with a vein bulging from his forehead. “All right… I’ll battle you. Since you _clearly_ don’t know how to determine the importance of various matters, I’ll-”

“Oh, sure. Since you _clearly_ know how to do that,” Crystal said sarcastically.

Gold looked over at her with a baffled look. “… Whose side are you on?” Crystal didn’t answer so Gold shook his head and looked at Satoshi again. “Anyways… I’ll take you on. One on one, man (points to himself) to boy (points to Satoshi).” For further mockery, he took out his fully extended billiard cue and a toothpick from his bag. “Man,” he said, pointing to his billiard cue. He then pointed at the toothpick. “To boy.”

Blue and Crystal saw the insult coming and had covered Yellow and Platinum’s eyes to prevent their minds from getting tainted by the awful implications. White looked away on her own, leaving Sapphire to stare blankly at her senior, wondering what he meant. Crystal smacked Gold on the back of the head.

“Ow! Hey, what the hell!” Gold yelled.

“Can’t you make some _appropriate_ insults when our juniors are around?”

“Wait, that was an insult?!” Satoshi yelled angrily. The Dex Holders (and even Haruka) all looked at him as if he was an idiot. “… What?”

Gold sighed and shook his head. “Whatever… let’s just battle.”

The group soon arrived at a suitable battleground. Gold and Satoshi took their places in the center while the spectators sat on the grass in the shade cast by various trees. But Green didn’t sit and instead, walked up to Gold. The goggled boy took out a Pokéball and prepared to throw.

“All right, Expl-” But Gold was cut off by Green who forcefully yanked him off the battleground by the back of his shirt. “Hey!”

“I’ll take him on,” Green said calmly.

“But… he’s mine! I said that from the other dimension!” Gold argued.

Green cast him a deadly look and Gold flinched. “Do you have a problem with this?”

“N – No sir!” Gold yelled out.

“Then sit down and wait your turn.”

The goggled boy quickly ran over to the shade and sat beside Crystal, who was busy laughing at him.

Green sent out his Rhyperior. Satoshi sent out… his Pikachu. Green approached the Drill Pokémon and whispered his plan. Soon, the battle started.

“Pearl, could you quietly tell us what senior Green’s Rhyperior and the opponent’s Pikachu are going to do?” Platinum asked quietly so that she won’t interrupt the battle.

“All right,” Pearl said equally quietly. “Uh… Pikachu’s going to use Thunderbolt, but Rhyperior doesn’t look like it’s going to do anything.”

As predicted, the Pikachu used Thunderbolt. The Rhyperior seemed to have taken quite a bit of damage as it staggered backwards. White looked rather confused. To her understanding, Rhyperior should not have taken any damage whatsoever. She considered in getting Black to use his Munna to clear his mind in order to figure out what just happened, but decided not to, as the scene would distract and interrupt the battle. She simply watched, hoping to get some explanation afterwards.

Seeing the effect of Thunderbolt, Satoshi ordered his Pikachu to continue. The Rhyperior kept staggering from the attacks, unable to do anything. The Dex Holders looked rather confused, except Red and Blue, who realized what their friend was doing. They decided to remain silent so their juniors could figure out what was going on by themselves.

“All right, Pikachu! Let’s finish this with Iron Tail!” Satoshi ordered after a minute of continuous Thunderbolt.

The Pikachu dashed towards Rhyperior and swung its iron-hard tail at it. But the Drill Pokémon caught the Mouse Pokémon’s tail and rendered it harmless.

“Earth Power,” Green ordered calmly.

The Rhyperior slammed Pikachu into the ground and blasted it with full powered Earth Power, knocking it out within a second. Satoshi looked really surprised, as he thought that he was winning. Green returned his perfectly-fine Rhyperior and turned to face his juniors.

“Can anyone tell me what I did?”

“Being a jerk and stealing my battle, that’s what,” Gold grumbled silently so that the Gym Leader wouldn’t hear.

A few Dex Holders raised their hands, but Green waited until one of the Unova Dex Holders raised their hand. He was going to give the newest members the first try. Black didn’t respond as his mind was still focused on his dreams of beating the Pokémon League and one day, challenging Red for a battle. Seeing how her friend’s mind didn’t seem to be responding, White raised a hand.

“Um… your Rhyperior is slower than Pikachu, so you waited until it came close on its own so that the Earth Power would hit,” she said after a short moment of thought.

“And?”

“And… Rhyperior is immune to Thunderbolt, so you made it pretend to be damaged by it so the opponent would keep using it.”

“Good. Anything else?”

White thought some more, but couldn’t think of anything else. Platinum saw the opportunity and raised a hand.

“Your Rhyperior is immune to Thunderbolt as mentioned, and you purposely tricked the opponent to keep using it. I believe that was because of your Rhyperior’s Ability, Lightningrod. Each time it receives an Electric attack, not only does it take no damage, but its Special Attack is raised from the electric current. Which was why Earth Power did so much damage. It is already a powerful attack, further boosted by the same Ground typing of Rhyperior, even more boosted by the Special Attack increase from Lightningrod, affecting an Electric type Pikachu, which is weak to Ground type attacks.”

“Very good,” Green said with a satisfied look.

Platinum continued. “And by having your Rhyperior pretend to be weak, your opponent became careless. Anyone who is careless in battle is destined to lose.”

Green nodded. “Excellent. You learned a lot more since our last battle.”

The heiress gave a polite bow. “Thank you very much, senior.”

“Wow! That was incredible!” White said to Platinum. “You figured all that out all by yourself that quickly?”

Platinum looked over at her junior and smiled. “Yes. I have seen senior Green battle several times and I can recognize his plans based on what he is doing. Of course, my predictions are not always accurate, as his skills are still leagues ahead of mine.”

Once Green sat on the grass beside Blue, Gold jumped to his feet. “All right! My turn!”

“Hey, hold on!” Red yelled. “I want a shot this time.”

Gold groaned. “Oh, come on!” But he had no choice but to let his senior go first. As Red walked up towards the battlefield, Gold looked over at Blue with a sigh. “Senior Blue, do _you_ want to battle that guy next? Apparently I can’t battle him until all of my seniors get a piece of him first.”

Before Blue could answer, Takeshi appeared right in front of her, kneeling on the ground while holding both her hands.

“My lady, could you please show us your undoubtedly beautiful battling talents?”

Blue rolled her eyes and was about to call Silver when the Johto Dex Holder appeared out of nowhere with a deadly look in his face. His Weavile already had its claws on Takeshi’s throat, ready to attack on demand. Takeshi froze and Silver yanked his hands off of Blue’s.

“Touch my sister again and you’re _dead_ ,” the Johto Dex Holder growled through clenched teeth.

“Thanks, Silver,” Blue said with a warm smile. “And keep an eye on him. This is like the third time he’s done that.”

Silver nodded and sent out his Feraligatr. With his two Pokémon, he made sure that the Brock-lookalike wouldn’t even look in Blue’s direction. With that taken care of, Blue looked at Gold to answer his question.

“No, I’m not going to battle. After Red, why don’t you let some of your juniors try?”

Gold looked baffled. “But… when am I going to battle then?”

“Probably when everyone else finish,” Crystal said with a laugh. She looked at the other Dex Holders. “Hey, how many of you want to battle?”

Sapphire raised a hand. “Oh, I do! I do!”

“Hey! You already fought that Team Rocket!” Gold yelled. Silver looked alerted at the mention of Team Rocket. “Not your dad’s Team Rocket,” Gold quickly added.

“I want a _proper_ battle!” Sapphire yelled. “Besides, as my senior, you should surrender your battle turn and let me go first.”

“But then… seniors Green and Red… Ah, whatever!” Gold yelled. “Fine. I’ll be the cool guy and let you go first. Who else?! Come on, this guy apparently challenged the Pokémon League like… ten times and lost every single time!”

Black’s hand immediately shot up at the mention of the Pokémon League. “I’ll battle!” he yelled abruptly.

White jumped in surprise at the sudden shout and movement. “Ah! Black, I thought your brain wasn’t responding.”

Black looked over at her. “What, do you think my brain’s like a computer or something?”

The president thought for a second. “Well… come to think of it, your mind does act like one. Your mind’s always filled to the brim with thoughts of winning the Pokémon League. It’s like a computer with way too many applications running at the same time. When something new opens, it takes forever for it to register. Your Munna clearing your mind of your dreams is like closing all the running applications at once. When they all close, the computer actually has spare memory allocation to focus on the newly opened program. Similarly, when your brain’s clear, you can actually think and solve problems!”

“It makes perfect sense!” Crystal said from the side. “Great comparison there, White.”

“All right!” Gold yelled. “So after senior Red, Wildchild Girl’s going to battle that guy, then Dream Boy. Anyone else going to steal my battle turn?” No one spoke up, so Gold sighed in relief. “Good. Then he’s mine afterwards!”

Suddenly, there was a loud thud and everyone turned to look at the battlefield. The Dex Holders were surprised to see Red’s Snorlax lying face-down on the ground. But before anyone could say anything, the Snorlax got back up and brushed off the dirt on its stomach. There was a Sceptile lying perfectly flattened on the ground where the Snorlax was.

“Oh…” Gold muttered. “For a second there, I thought you lost, senior Red.”

“Nah,” the Kanto champion said while returning his Snorlax.

“That thud was awfully loud,” Blue said. “What happened?”

“I was trying to see how high Lax can jump in the air for Body Slam,” Red explained. “As it turns out, not that high. But it jumped higher than I anticipated. Anyways, Sapphire, you’re up.”

“All right!” the Hoenn Dex Holder exclaimed as she shot up to her feet. “This is going to be fun!”

The battle between Sapphire’s Blaziken and Satoshi’s Charizard began. Satoshi couldn’t help but ponder over the fact that he was facing a Blaziken with his Charizard once again. The battle didn’t go so well last time, but this time, he was sure that he could win. After all, he learned quite a bit about Blaziken since then.

“Fly into the air and attack from above!” Satoshi ordered.

The Charizard did as told and began attacking Blaziken with Flamethrower from high above.

“That won’t stop me!” Sapphire yelled. “Chaka, Sky Uppercut!”

The Blaziken crouched down and gathered its strength. It then soared high into the air, striking the Charizard in the jaw with Sky Uppercut. The Blaziken grabbed onto Charizard to force it back down to ground level and while doing so, bombarded it with close range punches and kicks. Before hitting the ground, the Blaziken used its legs to kick off from Charizard.

“Now! Blaze Kick!” Sapphire ordered.

The Blaziken kicked the Charizard into the ground with Blaze Kick. Seeing how the Flame Pokémon wasn’t able to battle anymore, Sapphire returned her Blaziken.

“No Blast Burn, huh?” Ruby said as Sapphire stepped off the battlefield.

“Nah,” Sapphire said as she sat beside him. “I only use that against bad guys or in very tough battles. Anyways, Black, you’re up next!”

The Unova Dex Holder hopped up to his feet as White wished him luck. But before he even took a step towards the battlefield, Satoshi stepped off.

“I think I’m done,” he said with a sigh. “I don’t want to battle anymore.”

Gold groaned loudly. “Oh, come on! I was one freaking battle away from beating the hell out of you and you quit just like that?!” He glared at Sapphire who was laughing to the point of tears. “Oh, what are you laughing at?!”

“You!” Sapphire laughed out. “I got to fight twice and you didn’t get any chance whatsoever!”

“… Can I battle you then?” Gold asked. “My Pokémon want _some_ action today…”

Sapphire stuck her tongue out. “No. I don’t want to battle you today. _Maybe_ next week.”

Gold gritted his teeth. He turned to look at Crystal. She shook her head once her eyes met his. Gold then looked over at Silver, who also shook his head. The same process occurred with every Dex Holder, meaning that Gold would not be able to battle anyone that day. But he decided that if he wasn’t going to be able to satisfy his battle cravings that day, he might as well frustrate the hell out of the main culprit of his battle-less day (Sapphire).

Gold forced himself to calm down. “Well, Wildchild Girl, I suppose you don’t want to battle me because you know I’ll beat you with no effort whatsoever.”

Sapphire stopped laughing. “… Say that again.”

“What’s there to say? You’re afraid of battling me because you know you suck in comparison.”

“That’s a lie, and you know it!” Sapphire yelled angrily.

Blue nudged Red in the arm. “Red, are you going to do anything? They’re in your team.”

“Nah. It’s sometimes necessary to have or even force a rivalry between teammates.”

“If it’s a lie, then why aren’t you battling me?” Gold taunted.

Sapphire jumped up to her feet. “Let’s go then!”

Gold chuckled but remained sitting. “I have no intention of tiring my Pokémon by proving a well known fact.”

Sapphire gritted her teeth. “You said that you wanted to battle me!”

“I was only joking. I’d rather have a challenging battle. Like… battling seniors Red or Green.”

While Gold continuously taunted the enraged Sapphire, Satoshi walked over towards his friends and sat beside them with a sullen expression.

“Don’t feel too bad,” Hikari said in a comforting tone. “These guys are just… way too good.”

“But after everything I’ve been through, I thought I’d be able to put up a fight, at least,” Satoshi said after a sigh.

“Maybe these guys have been through worse,” Haruka said after a moment of thought. “Their Pokémon kind of seemed a little too strong given the trainers’ ages.”

Takeshi nodded in agreement despite still having the claws of Silver’s Weavile on his throat. After a comforting smile to Satoshi, Hikari walked over towards the Dex Holders so that she may learn something about them.

“Um… excuse me,” she said to Blue.

“Yes?”

“I was just wondering whether you could share your experiences with us.”

Blue shook her head. “I’m sorry, but that’ll take way too long.”

Hikari looked a little confused. “You guys all travel together, don’t you? I don’t think it’ll take that long if you just summarize major details.”

“We never traveled together,” Blue answered. “We gather together every now and then during a crisis to work together, but generally, we’re always apart. From my recollection, the only Dex Holders who constantly traveled together are Dia, Pearl, and Platinum. But even those three split up a couple of times for various tasks all over Sinnoh.” Blue thought for a second before continuing. “But I think there is a way for you guys to learn about us without having us describe everything for hours on end.”

“Oh? What’s that?”

Blue turned to look at Platinum. “Platinum, do you still have your notebook with you?”

“I believe so, senior,” the heiress replied as she began searching through her bag. She eventually found it and politely handed it over to her senior.

Blue look the notebook and presented it to Hikari. “Here you go. Platinum basically made a biography of every single Dex Holder because she wanted to learn as much as she could. Once she was done with the first 10 Dex Holders, Crys and I covered Dia, Pearl, and Platinum, following her template. And when Black and White joined us, Platinum recorded them in there too. So that notebook contains just about all you need to know about every single Dex Holder.”

Hikari politely bowed. “Thank you very much.”

“Now, we’d want to know what you’ve been through as well,” Blue started.

“You should ask Satoshi, as everything I’ve been through and everything Haruka’s been through are all a part of Satoshi’s travels. Well, mostly, anyways.”

“Ah, in that case… I’ll be back in a short while.”

Blue got to her feet and with her Wigglytuff and Ditto, went off somewhere. She returned 10 minutes later with her Ditto formed into a cart of some sort, carrying some type of machine. Seeing her return, Takeshi slightly leaned towards her direction and in that instant, Silver’s Weavile tapped his neck with one of its claws. A warning…

“Hey everyone, can I get your attention?” Blue said as she stood in front of all the Dex Holders. Sapphire and Gold stopped yelling at each other and looked at their senior. “Okay. I think it’s about time we all get to know our guests a little better. They borrowed Platinum’s notebook so they’ll learn about all of us and our accomplishments, so we should learn about theirs. To save time, I went back to the ShadowNet Johto HQ and brought back one of their machines. I don’t know why they built one or what they were going to use it for, but ShadowNet had a machine that projects memories of a Pokémon onto a screen, kind of like a video file. So, Satoshi, if you could bring your Pikachu up here, we’ll get started.”

Satoshi walked towards the machine and put his Pikachu on it. ‘ _Isn’t this what that crazy mirage Pokémon guy did to Pikachu a few years back?_ ’

Yellow helped Blue in connecting all the necessary scanners and sensors onto Pikachu. The Mouse Pokémon looked very tired from its battle…

“Pikachu still looks hurt,” Hikari said from behind with a worried expression.

“That’s not a problem at all,” Blue said dismissively as she worked with the machine.

Satoshi was about to object when Yellow placed a hand on the Pikachu’s forehead and blinked. In an instant, the Mouse Pokémon jumped up to its feet, looking perfectly healthy again.

“Wow,” Hikari muttered. She looked into Platinum’s notebook and spotted the heiress’s entry on her senior’s healing powers. “It’s exactly as described…”

A couple of minutes later, the ShadowNet machine was up and running. It projected Pikachu’s memories onto a large screen (Ditto), and it was powered by Black’s Galvantula. The machine needed controlled electric current (so not Green’s Porygon2, whose Zap Cannon is the opposite of controlled electricity), but not too strong so that the current would fry the machine inside and out (so not Red’s Pikachu).

“Well, look at that,” Green said as he looked at the main screen of the ShadowNet machine. “They really worked on the user interface. It’s exactly like opening a video file on a computer… That certainly saves us the hassle of trying to figure this thing out.”

Green moved the on screen cursor over to the file that was labeled “Pikachu”. The machine could detect Pokémon species, it seemed. Green clicked on the file and a little program called “Memory Viewer” popped up and started to play Pikachu’s memories, even the ones that were wiped out or forgotten.

To save time and skip the whole Pikachu-only segments (before getting caught), Green pressed the fast-forward button. As a result, though the images flashed much, much faster, so did the audio, making things slightly difficult to understand. But Green, being the superhuman that he was, heard and saw everything just enough.

Green skipped through all the unnecessary stuff (like day to day events, namely helping random people and their problems and dealing with the same Team Rocket group who kept trying to steal Pikachu) and slowed down enough during important events (Gym Battles, Pokémon League participating, Legendary encounters, etc).

Within a couple of hours, Pikachu’s memories moved on to Hoenn. Green paused the Memory Viewer when Haruka’s father appeared on screen.

“That’s my dad,” Haruka said. “He’s the Gym Leader of Petalburg City,” she said proudly.

Ruby looked quite surprised. “… He looks exactly the same as my dad… And he’s the Gym Leader of Petalburg City too! … Although my dad, quite honestly, doesn’t look that kind…”

“So… we’re kind of like siblings, then!” Haruka exclaimed. “Though I already have a younger brother, I never had one from another dimension!”

Green pressed the play button on the Memory Viewer to continue. The Dex Holders watched as more of familiar looking Gym Leaders appeared at various times. There were lots of comments from Ruby and Sapphire at various scenes, ranging from “You call that a Contest?” to “Groudon and Kyogre look so weak there!”.

An hour later, Pikachu’s memories moved on to Sinnoh. Shortly after the Pikachu ran into Hikari (and fried a bicycle for the third time), Hikari’s mother appeared on screen.

“Hey, Dia! That looks like your mom!” Pearl said in surprise.

“Yeah…”

“So we’re like siblings too!” Hikari said excitedly. “I never had one before. This is so cool!”

Green kept the Memory Viewer running. And once again, there were various comments from the Sinnoh Dex Holders, ranging from “That Draco Meteor appears to be horribly inefficient,” to “Dialga and Palkia didn’t seem to do much over there,” and even “Cyrus of your dimension is very different from the Cyrus of our dimension…”.

“All right,” Green muttered as he shut off the ShadowNet device an hour later. “I have a theory on the relations of our dimension and theirs,” he said to the Dex Holders. “It seems that-”

Green’s theory was interrupted when a giant mechanical hand appeared out of nowhere and grabbed Satoshi’s Pikachu. The Dex Holders and the guests all looked at where the mechanical hand retreated to and could see a giant Meowth shaped hot air balloon…

* * *

What Could Have Been (no conditions, 1 of 3):

Green paused the ShadowNet Memory Viewer and looked over at Satoshi. “… You tried to punch Mewtwo twice in the span of 10 seconds.”

“Yeah, so?”

“Did you really think that you were going to accomplish anything?”

Blue shook her head and asked another question before Satoshi answered. “Better yet, if the first punch attempt failed so miserably, what exactly made you think that the second try would do any better?”

“I… uh… I don’t remember. That was a long time ago,” Satoshi stammered out. “Let’s just move on…”

“Fine, whatever.” Green started the ShadowNet Memory Viewer and fast-forwarded. He soon paused it again after another questionable scene. “All right. Once again, I must question your motifs and thoughts at this situation.”

“Huh?”

“You’re in an underwater temple that’s sinking. You and Haruka are all that’s left, with Pikachu and Manaphy. I understand that you were going to save the temple yourself, and I can appreciate the heroism of leaving your friends in safety while you face danger. But why did you leave Manaphy in the ‘life pod’? You’re underwater. Having a Water type Pokémon with you would’ve been greatly helpful, don’t you think?”

“Manaphy was a newborn,” Haruka answered instead. “It wasn’t capable of doing something like saving the temple on its own. And it couldn’t really leave me.”

Green shook his head. “If it was capable of leading your submarine through an ocean current without you right beside it, I’m sure it would be capable of following and assisting someone in saving its own home. But fine. Let’s ignore that.” He looked at Satoshi again. “That ‘life pod’. What were you thinking? It clearly wasn’t a life pod. Life pods tend to have various propulsion systems and all sorts of controls on the inside so the user can navigate and move. But the one you locked Haruka into was clearly more of a… locker.”

“So? Even though I didn’t know it was a locker, at least Haruka was safe,” Satoshi argued.

“What Green’s getting at is… You locked Haruka in a small steel locker that sank like a rock,” Sapphire said with a sigh. “If you failed in your task, what happens then?”

“Then Haruka gets out of the locker and finishes what I couldn’t,” Satoshi simply replied. “I really don’t see the problem in this.”

Haruka and Hikari shook their heads. They could see the flaw in their friend’s logic. It comforted Haruka to know that the plan did succeed and she escaped her possible death.

“The locker door isn’t going to open underwater, you moron,” Gold said from behind. “Because of the water pressure, the door would only open underwater if enough water entered the locker. But this locker was perfectly waterproof. Once it fell below the water surface, your friend was screwed. If you failed your task, then while you would’ve drowned, she would’ve died from…”

“Asphyxiation,” Crystal finished for him.

“Satoshi,” Haruka said with a sigh. “Next time a problem arises and you have an idea, how about you discuss it with someone before putting in action?”

“Let’s just continue,” Green said as he pressed the play button on the ShadowNet machine. But he had to pause it again shortly after. “You called Palkia an idiot when it was looking at you?”

“That Palkia must’ve been in a good mood,” Pearl said from behind. “The one in our dimension would’ve probably killed you.”

Green shook his head and pressed the play button once more. But again, he paused it shortly after. This time, he backtracked slightly and played the memory clip in normal speed and volume.

 _“I got Ma’s scent!” the Zorua said through telepathy. The Pikachu and Piplup immediately began sniffing the ground to see if they could catch the scent_.

 _“Really?”_ _Satoshi asked as he ran over to the Zorua. “Can you really smell it?” He then got to his knees and began sniffing the ground alongside the 3 Pokémon._

Green paused the ShadowNet Memory Viewer and looked over at Satoshi with a questioning look. Platinum took a couple of steps away from Satoshi and Diamond and Pearl stepped in, seemingly protecting the heiress from the ‘weird guy’. Ruby glanced at Sapphire for a second before he shook his head as well. At least Sapphire had extremely heightened senses… But Satoshi here… what exactly was he thinking?

“Wow,” Gold muttered. “You are one strange clueless kid.”

* * *

(2 of 3):

“And whenever you find Legendary Pokémon fighting each other, why is it that the very first thing you always do is yell at them to stop?” Green asked. “These Pokémon are fighting because of feuds built up from centuries ago or in the case of Arceus, rage that’s been building for thousands of years. Do you really expect them to stop what they were doing because of some punk kid that they never saw before is yelling at them to stop? In fact, the first thing you do when you run into anything bad such as an evil team or Pokémon fighting, is… yelling at them to stop. Do you really expect anything to happen?”

* * *

(3 of 3)/Post Ending:

“Watch, the first thing Satoshi’s going to do is yell at them to give his Pikachu back,” Blue whispered to the other Dex Holders as the boy in question stared at the Meowth shaped hot air balloon.

The hot air balloon had its back facing the sun, and even though every Dex Holder recognized the unwanted intruders as Team Rocket (from ShadowNet Memory Viewer) by silhouette, Satoshi’s exceptionally slow mind didn’t seem to recognize anything despite experiencing the identical event almost 900 times. He only recognized the enemy when Team Rocket insignia became visible.

Seeing Satoshi recognize the enemy, Blue started a mental countdown while all of the Dex Holders watched carefully for Satoshi’s reaction.

‘ _3… 2… 1… and…_ ’

Satoshi took a deep breath before yelling. “Give Pikachu back, Team Rocket!”

**Author's Note:**

> Since this story has gone through the writing-version of "development hell", there are multiple options for the story's "start location" and "starting events".
> 
> The "What Could Have Been" will mostly have the scenes that could have happened if the alternate starts were chosen.


End file.
